Are you in the habit of leaving your phone charger plugged into the electrical outlet even when you’re not using it to charge? Here’s what it costs you on the electricity bill.
Like almost everyone these days, you probably have one or more chargers at home to charge phones, tablets, headphones, wireless speakers or even connected watches. And to avoid fiddling, you may leave them permanently plugged into electrical outlets so that the USB cable can be quickly connected to your devices when you need to charge them. It’s so much more practical!
Except this: even when they are not used for charging, chargers consume electricity simply by being plugged in. And over the days, weeks and months, this “residual” – and totally useless – consumption ends up adding up. And it is added to other consumption on your electricity bill.
The question that then arises is exactly how much this consumption amounts to. Or, more pragmatically, how much does it cost per year to leave a charger plugged into the outlet when no phone is charging.
Actually, not much. But it all depends on the year the charger was manufactured. and the standards it respects. That’s because a European Union directive imposes requirements on electronics sold in the EU, including how much electricity a charger can consume when not in use. If the charger is 2010, the standby consumption can reach 0.5 W. From 2011 to 2022, it must be limited to 0.30 W maximum. While after 2022, it must not exceed 0.10 W.
If we take the case of a recent charger, from 2022 which would operate 24 hours a day without being used; its consumption for one year (365 days) amounts to 0.1 x 24 x 365 or 876 Wh (or 0.876 kWk). Based on EDF’s Blue tariff of 25 cents per kWh, this makes 0.876 x 25 cents, or 22 cents. A ridiculous cost, then!
With a charger produced between 2011 and 2022, the annual consumption rises to 2.6 kWh or 65 cents, which is still very low. And with a 2010 model, consumption reaches 4.3 kWh or 1.1 euros per year. No need to break the bank! But be careful, if the price of electricity increases, these costs increase. for example if the kWh increases to 50 cents, you will have to multiply all these amounts by 2.
Finally, if you have a very old charger, dating from before the EU directive, standby consumption may be considerably higher. Thus, we still find chargers consuming 0.75 W or even 1 W or more, which results in an annual cost of more than 1.6 euros. Granted, it’s still not huge. but if you have several that you leave plugged in all the time, it ends up being an unnecessary amount of money spent. Not to mention the waste of energy for the planet.
In all cases, it is better to unplug a charger when not using it, as it wears out imperceptibly and can cause a fire in the event of a malfunction. This is particularly true with low-cost unbranded chargers sold on Amazon, Temu, AliExpress or Wish for example: most of these devices are of very poor quality, without compliance with European standards, despite the presence of self-binding or CE mark.