Every home has a handful of devices that draw power while doing nothing. Televisions waiting for a remote signal, cable boxes holding settings, game consoles in instant-on mode, and phone chargers left in the wall all consume electricity around the clock. Utilities and researchers call this standby power, and the devices that cause it are phantom loads.
The cost is real but easy to miss. Studies by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory put standby power at roughly 5 to 10 percent of residential electricity use, which for an average home works out to about $100 a year. Cutting that waste starts with cheap hardware, and the future of home electricity, from wireless power to solar windows, assumes homes stop leaking energy in the background. A smart power strip is the fastest way to start.
What Standby Power Costs You
To understand where the money goes, start with how standby power and phantom loads behave, then measure your own devices. A typical living room hides a dozen small draws: the TV, the soundbar, the streaming box, the game console, the router, and the chargers plugged into the wall. Each one draws a few watts on its own, but they run 8,760 hours a year, and the watts add up.
The table below shows realistic standby draws and what each one costs at the U.S. average residential rate of about 16 cents per kilowatt-hour. Actual numbers vary by model, age, and settings, but the shape of the bill is the same.
| Device | Typical standby draw | Annual cost at $0.16/kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Cable or satellite box | 25-35 W | $35-49 |
| Smart TV | 3-10 W | $4-14 |
| Game console (instant-on) | 10-15 W | $14-21 |
| Desktop computer | 2-5 W | $3-7 |
| Router and modem | 6-12 W | $8-17 |
| Phone charger (plugged in) | 0.1-0.5 W | Under $1 |
| Microwave clock | 2-3 W | $3-4 |
The cable box is the standout. Because it stays warm to download guide data, a single box can cost more per year than the television it sits next to. Powering it down completely with a strip saves most of that.
Add those draws to a family with two televisions, two offices, and a game room, and the annual total passes $150 without any single device looking expensive. The waste is invisible because no device draws enough to notice; only the sum shows up on the bill.
Which devices draw the most
Anything with a clock, a network connection, or an instant-on feature draws standby power. Set-top boxes and game consoles are the heaviest hitters, followed by anything with a wall wart transformer, which wastes a little power just sitting in the socket.
Always-on gear you may want to keep
Not every idle device should be switched off. Routers, modems, alarm systems, and anything that needs to receive signals at 3 a.m. should stay powered. The goal is cutting waste from devices you control with a remote, not starving gear that needs to listen.
Measuring Standby Draw Before You Buy
A smart strip is a good buy even if you never measure anything, but measuring tells you which outlets matter. Plug-in watt meters, the same devices covered in smart electricity meter reviews, sell for $15 to $30 and report volts, amps, watts, and cumulative kilowatt-hours.
How to run a 24 hour measurement
- Plug the meter into the wall and the device into the meter.
- Record the watts with everything off but plugged in.
- Leave it for 24 hours and read the cumulative kilowatt-hours.
- Multiply the kilowatt-hours by your rate from the bill to get the annual cost.
A meter also reveals surprises, like the router that draws 12 watts or the soundbar that never sleeps. Most people find at least one device drawing more at idle than the TV does, and those are the outlets the smart strip should control.
What the readings tell you
Devices that draw more than a few watts at idle are prime candidates for a controlled outlet. Devices that draw nothing can stay on a plain strip. If your cable box shows 30 watts at idle, a smart strip pays for itself within the first year.
Types of Smart Power Strips
Smart strips cut power in three main ways, and each fits different rooms. Controlled outlet strips, the most common type, use one master outlet to switch the rest. When the master device, usually the TV, drops below a threshold, the strip cuts power to the controlled outlets after a short delay. Timer strips switch on and off at set times, which suits lamps and holiday lights. Occupancy strips use motion sensors and work well in basements, laundry rooms, and offices.
Most controlled strips delay the cutoff by 5 to 30 seconds so the master device can finish writing settings or receiving a signal. That delay matters: a strip that cuts instantly can interrupt a cable box mid-update and cause it to reboot every time.
| Strip type | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Controlled outlet (master-slave) | Master device switches the rest | TV and entertainment setups |
| Timer | Cuts power on a schedule | Lamps, holiday lights, chargers |
| Occupancy (motion) | Switches on when someone is present | Basements, offices, laundry |
| Smart-home | App or voice control | Whole-room automation |
Controlled outlet strips explained
The master-slave design handles the classic entertainment problem. The TV plugs into the master outlet, and the soundbar, streaming box, and game console plug into controlled outlets. When the TV turns off, the strip waits a few seconds and kills power to everything else.
Choosing the control outlet
The control outlet must be the device that is off the most but that the whole setup depends on. If you use a soundbar as the receiver for all audio, make the soundbar the master instead of the TV, so the strip does not cut power mid-use.
Beyond the Living Room: Loads Around the House
The living room is the biggest cluster of phantom loads, but the same thinking applies everywhere. Home offices hide monitors, speakers, and docking stations that idle overnight. Kitchens hide coffee makers with clocks and toaster ovens with standby lights. Garages hide battery chargers that keep trickle-charging long after the pack is full.
The habit scales beyond the home. The same discipline shows up as electricity on construction sites, where idle tools and chargers run up bills and wear out equipment, and it shapes how builders plan demand. Builders who design solar ready construction size the array after the loads, because a house that wastes 100 watts at night needs a bigger system than one that does not.
Home office and kitchen setups
A single controlled strip behind a desk can cut 20 to 40 watts of overnight draw from monitors and speakers. In the kitchen, timer strips on counter appliances eliminate clock displays without affecting the refrigerator, which should never be on a strip that cuts power.
Garage and workshop chargers
Smart chargers stop drawing when the battery is full, but dumb ones keep pulling current. Put tool battery chargers on a strip you switch off when the shop is closed, and unplug anything with a glowing LED that has no reason to glow.
Installation and Safety
Installing a smart strip takes minutes, but a few rules keep it safe. Never plug a space heater, a sump pump, a refrigerator, or a freezer into a strip that cuts power automatically; those devices need uninterrupted power. Check the strip’s rating and keep total load under the circuit’s capacity, usually 1,800 watts on a 15 amp circuit.
Before you rearrange outlets, the safest habit is to know how to shut everything down at the panel. The steps for a full shutdown are covered in how to safely turn off your home electricity, and they matter any time you work near receptacles or move heavy equipment.
Placement matters as much as wiring. A strip hidden behind a cabinet that requires a flashlight to reach will get switched off rarely, while a strip on the desk gets used. Choose a model with clearly labeled outlets and a visible switch, and mount it where the switch is easy to reach.
What not to plug into a smart strip
- Space heaters and baseboard heaters
- Sump pumps and well pumps
- Refrigerators and freezers
- Anything over the strip’s amp rating
Surge protection matters too
Many smart strips include surge protection rated in joules. For expensive electronics, look for a strip with at least 1,000 joules of protection and a connected equipment warranty, then replace the strip after a major surge, because the protection is one-use.
Measuring Results and Stacking Savings
After a month, compare the bills. A household that strips the entertainment center, the office, and the kitchen can expect standby power to drop by half or more, which typically cuts total usage by a few percent. Re-check with the watt meter to confirm the controlled outlets are actually switching.
The savings compound with other efficiency work. Pair strips with LED bulbs, smart thermostats, and efficient appliances, and the standby cuts ride on top of the rest. Some utilities offer rebates on smart strips and power monitors, so check your provider’s website before you pay full price.
Standby power is the cheapest kilowatt to save, because saving it costs almost nothing. The same logic runs through generation: a grid that wastes less demand gets more from every plant, which is why energy planners pair demand programs with everything from rooftop arrays to hydropower plants. The utility bill is the report card, and a $20 strip is the first assignment.