What you pay when you're away

Electric rates have been rising every year. And many of us are looking for ways to lower those bills.

But would you believe a lot of your energy use takes place when you're not even home? We checked to find out what you pay when you're away.

Tries to Shut Everything Off

Andrea Krauth is a frugal mom who tries to make sure everything is off, with the exception of one lamp, when she goes out.

Andrea said, "I usually try to turn things off. Things are still plugged in, but I try to turn lights and everything else off."

Despite that, her electric meter seems to be spinning faster and faster, her electric bill going higher and higher.

Beware Phantoms and Vampires

With so many electronics in our homes these days, many of us have large "phantom" or "vampire" use.

So Andrea agreed to let her energy company do an audit for "power vampires," things sucking power 24 hours a day.

Electric analyst Steve Kinkel used a watt meter to look for vampires,starting with her coffee maker.

After plugging the coffee maker into the meter, Steve told us, "this is on even when its not making coffee and it's using 6 watts right now."

At a rate of 10 cents a killowatt, her coffeemaker costs $1.25 a month, even if she never uses it.

Phone Chargers

Other phantom users are cell and cordless phone chargers. Steve says Andrea's cordless phone charger in her family room uses 4 watts around the clock which adds up to 30 cents a month.

Andrea has 4 of these plugged in all the time, which comes to $1.20 a month.

Meantime, if you leave cell phone chargers plugged in (which Andrea does not), you are paying for electric use, even if the cell phone is not attached. A few cell phone chargers now shut off when the phone is unplugged, though most don't.

HDTVs and Video Games

But a bigger surprise was the high definition TV and Microsoft Xbox in Andrea's family room.

Even when off, Steve discovered it was a big power drain. He said, "I would call it about 47 watts." That's $3.30 a month, even if you never turn on the TV or video console.

Her cable box with DVR? It's always on and, at 40 watts, Steve calculated it's $3 a month. But of course you can't turn off a DVR, or you can't record shows.

The subwoofer on Andrea's surround sound system? It's plugged in all the time, which Steve found means it draws 6 watts even when no one's using it, which comes to 50 cents a month.

Surprisingly, her laptop computer drew only 1.5 watts in "sleep" mode.  If you make sure your computer goes to "sleep" after 20 minutes of inactivity, you don't have to worry about much power use at all.

Do You Need that Beer Fridge?

Andrea's spare refrigerator, used for just beer and Coke, is a big vampire: 117 watts when it runs, which Steve estimated is about 8 hours a day. If it were in a hot garage, it would run even more.

That's $6.10 a month for her 2 fridges.

Reduce Your Vampire Use

Another big draw: A lamp she leaves on for safety: Steve found its incandescent bulb pulls 96 watts. At 10 hours a night, that $2.80 a month.

So Andrea's phantom power consumption, when no one is even home, comes to $18 a month, or $200 a year.

But there are some ways to cut that usage. Energy company spokeswoman Sally Thalen says switching 7 incandescent bulbs over to CFLs could mean big savings.

She said, "you could save upwards of $180 to $200 on your electric bill annually, by changing most of your bulbs to fluorescent."

Sally demonstrated how a CFL bulb in a lamp would cost just 50 cents a month to run, a full $2 less than Andrea's incandescent lamp that she leaves on.

Remember that spare fridge? If it's old, Sally says rethink whether you need it. She said, "you would be amazed at the power draw of appliances more than 10 years old."

She also says if you have an older appliance that's on the fritz, it may be cheaper in the long run to replace it than try to repair it.

Andrea says the audit was eye opening. She's going to turn off things she can -- like video games -- and switch to CFL bulbs. She said, "now that I've seen the testing, I'll start to switch them out.

Bottom line: While unplugging phones and TVs may not work for most people, the easiest way to cut your electric bill when you're away is to make sure any lights you leave on are compact fluorescent lights, not old style incandescents.

That can make an immediate difference as to what you pay when you're away, so you don't waste your money.
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CLICK HERE for an interactive calculator that shows what many items in your home cost to run.

CLICK HERE for a US Department of Energy list of energy use of popular home appliances.

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