Your telly's never really off: the ten-minute standby sweep

Anything with a red light on standby is still drawing a little power. One walk round the house finds most of it.

Money · By the Natter Daily team · 1 min read · Thursday 24 September 2026

Start in the living room. TVs, games consoles, soundbars and set-top boxes often sit on standby all day. A switched extension lead lets you turn the lot off in one go at bedtime.

In the kitchen, the microwave clock and the coffee machine are the usual suspects. Anything you only use once a day can go off at the wall.

Leave the fridge, freezer and router alone, and check your boiler instructions before touching anything on the heating. Some set-top boxes need to stay on to record, so check before you switch off the one with your Saturday night telly on it.

Your supplier's app or smart meter display shows your use by the hour. Look at the overnight figure before and after your sweep.