Tested: Should You Unplug Chargers When You're Not Using Them?

www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_6_a the average cost of electricity in the US is 12.98 cents per kWh. This means that those 2.628 kWh of electricity will cost about 34.1 cents over an entire year. Even using the most expensive electricity rates in the US – 30.04 cents per kWh in Hawaii – that’s only about 79 cents per year. The real cost is actually lower, as you’ll be charging your devices with these chargers sometimes, so they won’t always be drawing vampire power. You’ll probably unplug them to take them with you sometimes, too. But let’s use the highest number – 79 cents per year. Divide that by the six different chargers here – being charitable and ignoring the power strip – and you get 13 cents per year for each charger in Hawaii. That’s about five and a half cents on the average US electrical bill. Silver nickel isolated on a silver background This Isn’t Meant to Be Precise, But It Answers the Question This isn’t meant to be a completely scientific or precise test, of course. Some of the chargers likely use more power than others, so the real cost to leave your smartphone charger plugged in for an entire year is probably below 13 cents. Either way, this shows us that the amount of vampire power consumed by your chargers is extremely small. It isn’t worth worrying about. Just leave your chargers plugged in for convenience; don’t unplug them. Yes, it’s true that you could save a tiny amount of electricity by unplugging your chargers, but you could save a much larger amount of electricity by looking to heating, cooling, lighting, laundry, <http://www.howtogeek.com/230514/how-to-make-your-pc-use-less-power/> your computer and other more significant power drains. Don’t sweat the chargers. _____ These are all relatively modern chargers, of course – the oldest one here is from 2012 or so. Much older chargers might actually use a noticeable amount of vampire power. For example, if you still have a cell phone or other portable electronics device from the 90’s, its charger might continually use a noticeable amount of power if you leave it plugged in – but even that amount of vampire power probably won’t make a noticeable dent in your electricity bill. ]]>