It’s handy to have a phone charger plugged in all the time so you can quickly connect the cable to the phone when needed.
How much does it cost to leave a phone charger plugged in when the phone is not charging?
Old phone chargers were very energy intensive. That is why a European Union directive now imposes requirements on electronic equipment sold in the EU. This includes the amount of electricity a charger can draw when not in use. If the charger is from before 2010, the standby consumption should be 0.5 Wh. From 2011 to 2022 it must be 0.30 Wh, while after 2022 it must not exceed 0.10 Wh.
As of April 1, 2023, the price including tax of one kilowatt hour of electricity at the regulated tariff is €0.2062 for all meter powers. So chargers produced before 2010 cost 90 cents a year. Those between 2011 and 2022 represent 54 cents per year. And those that have been sold since 2022 will cost you 18 cents per year.
Of course, if the whole family leaves a charger connected, these sums must be multiplied by the number of chargers connected throughout the house. Ten chargers from before 2010 thus represent an annual expenditure of 9 euros.
The cost is therefore modest if you have a charger manufactured from 2022 and it is true that saving 18 cents over a year is a saving of pennies. Nothing that would therefore justify getting upset when a family member leaves his charger on?
For cost reasons, no doubt. But what about ecological reasons? Indeed, if one in two French people leaves their charger permanently connected, this represents at least 3000 kWh (i.e. 3 MWh), considering that everyone has a latest generation charger. Or one thousandth of French electricity production from wind power, which averages 3,000 MWh. Again this is not very important. So there’s really no reason to unplug your charger?
If there is one! Brightly colored unbranded chargers sold on Amazon or Wish are very poor quality. There is often no protection for the electronics. And they can catch fire and sometimes when you’re away from home and you’ve left the charger plugged in. For this reason, it is useful to unplug the chargers: you will avoid a fire.