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Phantom load power loss adds up
BY CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 10/07/2008

Third in a five-part series

Next time life is going too well and you're looking for a little frustration, try making your home's electricity meter come to a halt by shutting off everything in your house that draws power.

Be warned, it's not easy.

Some household appliances sneakily draw power even when they are shut off. The source of that drain has been given any number of derogatory names, from vampire power to wall wart. It's perhaps best known as phantom load. And like all phantoms, it works without notice -- at least until the electricity bill arrives at the end of the month.

Phantom load is created by any appliance that continues to draw power when not in use, which, in the typical home, includes dozens of appliances ranging from the clock radio on your night stand to the computer in your home office.

"It's the forgotten little loads that add up," said Richard Bacon of Efficiency Maine, the energy division of the Maine Public Utilities Commission. "You have a couple watts here, you have a couple watts there. After a while, you're talking about a reasonably good load."

Phantom loads can best be spotted at night. Turn off all the lights and look around your home. Every appliance marked by an LED light, or anything else that glows, is drawing electricity.

"Even the ground fault interrupter in your bathroom, a lot of them have a glowing LED that shows they are working," Bacon said.

Not everything that leads to phantom load can be seen in the dark, however. Some must be felt. Cell phone chargers, for example, draw electricity when they are plugged in, whether they are connected to the phone or not.

If you're uncertain whether an appliance is drawing electricity, try laying your hands on it.

"If it's an electrical item that's warm to the touch, it's consuming electricity," Bacon said.

Anything that has to be reset after a power failure, or anything that operates by remote control, like your television and VCR, are drawing electricity even when they are turned off. An average cable box, for example, uses about 14.5 kilowatt-hours per month -- an extra $2.

Even your doorbell is surreptitiously nickel-and-diming your electric bill.

"All these little conveniences, over time we've all grown accustomed to them," Bacon said. "We forget about them."

Efficiency Maine estimates that 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics in the average home is consumed while those machines are turned off.

That translates into about 140 watts, which, comes out to about 1,200 kilowatt-hours per year at an average of 16 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Do the math and the average homeowner is being clipped for about $190 per year, or $15.83 per month, for phantom load.

Of course, not all of that load can be eliminated.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, for example, draw a phantom load but also provide a potentially life-saving service.

Even when not a matter of life or death, unplugging other phantoms is impractical.

It is unlikely, for example, that anyone would unplug their alarm clocks and then reset them before bed each night.

"People aren't saying phantom loads are necessarily all bad, but you forget about them," Bacon said.

The average family can realistically save around $6 a month by eliminating useless phantom load, Bacon said, by remembering to unplug appliances and electronics when they are not in use.

Toward that end, Bacon suggests investing in power strips that are designed to automatically cut electricity to appliances plugged into the strips when the appliances are not in use. The automatic power strips, which run about $40 at almost any electronics store, eliminate the biggest obstacle homeowners face when trying to reduce phantom load.

"Everyone has good intentions the first week and they you forget," Bacon said. "You really need the automatic devices. Over the course of a year they basically pay for themselves."

But the automatic devices will not reprogram your television and VCR when power is restored, and that is where Bacon loses most people when discussing the savings possible by eliminating phantom load.

"The second you get to the TV/VCR issue, it goes south in a hurry," Bacon said. "I think it's more of an awareness campaign. People who are absolute zealots about trying to save energy will shut everything off."

Craig Crosby--623-3811 Ext. 433

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

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