Reduce costs – Where are the power guzzlers in the household? Here’s how to find out for yourself

TV, washing machine, refrigerator, coffee machine: almost every household has dozens of electrical appliances, all of which consume electricity. If you want to find out how much that is in total, an energy cost meter (ECM) can help you.

These are already available cheaply and can be used without any problems for domestic use. Alternatively, you may be able to borrow a device for the test free of charge from the advice center of the consumer advice center in your region.

Energy cost meter: How it works

This is just a small device that plugs directly into the socket, but also offers a slot itself. There you plug in the device in question to determine its consumption.

You can try this both when it is in operation and when it is switched off – as is well known, devices such as televisions still use some electricity in standby mode, which becomes expensive over the course of a year.

The number on the display finally shows you how high the current consumption value is. Power consumption or mains voltage can often also be seen on it.

Based on this value, you can either calculate the consumption yourself with the electricity cost calculator. However, many energy cost measuring devices automatically offer a calculator. As a result, you only have to enter the current price per kilowatt hour and you will immediately see the consumption value.

In this way, you can find out how much electricity your devices actually consume and whether this consumption may deviate from the manufacturer’s information.

If you find that a device causes particularly high costs, then it is time to think about buying a more efficient model. This can be worthwhile, especially for older refrigerators that are switched on all year round.

In addition, in some cases you can help yourself with additional devices:

• Connector strip with toggle switch:
  Particularly in the case of home cinema with a television, game console and soundbar, the standby consumption is worth mentioning. You can prevent this by switching off the power strip. A practical side effect: buy a strip with overvoltage protection to provide additional protection for expensive devices.
• Radio sockets:
  Switchable radio sockets with remote control offer a similar function. Although the consumption is a bit higher, it is more convenient to switch it on – when buying, make sure that the consumption of the device itself is less than one watt.

However, you have to be careful with OLED televisions, as the devices neutralize the picture overnight to reduce burn-in effects. Therefore, disconnecting from the network can do more harm than good.