Energy Vampire Slayahhhh

Blog post for USHP Charleston on vampire slaying:


U. S. Home Protect of Charleston


WOW! Did you know that in the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off? The new term for these appliances that are sucking the money from your utility budget is "energy vampires."

Energy vampires are things like televisions, microwaves and phone chargers that stay plugged in all day, and even though the machine may be powered off (or just not being used, in the case of a microwave, phone charger, etc.) the appliance is still getting power.

No, this is not the same kind of creepy vampire as that one from Twilight that your daughter always talks about. Unlike Edward Cullen, these vampires are real threats! No, they won't bite you (unless you decided that wiring your bathroom sounded like a good DIY project and have no prior experience as an electrician) but they can be cause for some pretty extreme and unnecessary power bills.

But don't fear! There are several solutions, and none involve wooden crosses or silver bullets. The best and perhaps easiest solution is to plug these appliances that sit unused all day into a power strip. When you leave in the morning, turn it off! This will keep precious power from flowing into the teeth (read: prongs?) of what powers your gadgets.

Try this for a month and let us know how it works out for you...This might be the one and only time you get excited to open that power bill!