Beware of the Phantom Load

By McKayla Kiernan, Communications Specialist

Are phantom loads lurking in your home? Phantom loads are devices that consume electricity even when you are not using them. The primary culprits are chargers, set-top television boxes and gaming systems. There are others, but these few represent the major offenders.

Chargers take the 120 VAC (volts alternating current) power at the outlet and reduce it down to the voltage required by the connected device, usually 5 to 12 VDC (volts direct current). Obviously, when your device is charging, the charger is using electricity, but you might be surprised to learn that chargers are still using small amounts of energy even when they’re not connected to a device.

The typical gaming console can use as much energy as a regular refrigerator even when it’s not being used. Make sure to check the console settings and disable automatic updates, which is where the energy drain comes from. Games on the console are frequently updated, which requires a lot of electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that phantom energy can make up 10% of your electricity bill. So how does the average family combat these dreaded phantom loads? Garlic garlands? Silver bullets?

Fortunately, none of the remedies of fable are necessary. You just need to change how you handle these energy-sucking electronics.

A few money saving suggestions:

- Unplug chargers when not in use.
- Invest in smart power strips. These look like normal power strips but have a twist; one of the outlets is the “master” that receives power all the time. The others are off. When the device connected to the master outlet turns on, the rest of the outlets receive power too.
- Disable automatic updates in gaming consoles and turn the console off completely when playing. 

It is time to scare off those wasteful phantom loads and save money this fall!