After a regular business day, you are ready to leave for your home, but then you face a dichotomy: to turn off the electrical appliances or to keep them on standby or sleep mode. As a business owner, who would want to save the electricity expenses and would look for the overall health of the appliances, you would make the decision that would not only be the most energy-efficient but also safe for your electrical appliances.

Every business owner faces this dichotomous situation and thus not having proper information on electricity consumption data of standby or sleep mode, in comparison to rebooting the appliances every day, could make a dent in the bottom line of the business. Every energy-conscious consumer should know what small steps one can take to ensure that energy usage is limited whenever possible.

Though some of the business owners know about the role of standby or sleep mode on the business expenses, many are still in oblivion on how it affects the profitability.
Thus, it is very important to know the answers to the above questions, as it would help one to analyze and monitor the electricity expenses, in addition, to keep the health of the appliances in check.

Appliances that do not require to be left on standby or in sleep mode overnight need to be turned off at the wall. It would not only save the electricity expenses but would also keep your appliance’s health in check. Electrical appliances are more prone to wear and tear when left with power on for long working hours apart from adding up to the unnecessary electricity expenses.

Enture, from Nebeskie Labs, is an AI-powered electricity management IoT platform with predictive analytics that identifies energy wastage and saves business energy cost. It helps a business to increase its profitability by helping monitor and optimize electricity consumption. Its predictive analysis identifies electricity wastage and saves up to 30% of electricity consumption.

“Standby power refers to the electricity consumed by the appliances left on standby mode also known as Phantom Energy. It essentially means that you are paying for electricity that you are not even using.”

There are two types of standby modes:
1. Passive standby – Standby mode when the appliance is plugged in but switched off.
2. Active standby – Standby mode when the device is turned on but not in use.

Though both the standby modes use a considerable amount of energy, active standby mode can cost you five to ten times more in electricity than passive standby mode.

Let us understand the math behind the standby or sleep mode with an example. Say you have 10 ACs that are required on a daily basis for the business operational works. Each of the ACs has 2000 wattage and has running hours of 8 hours daily. The average commercial electricity unit (KWH) charge is Rs. 9. So, one a daily basis your electricity expenses for a single AC is

(2000/1000) x 9 x 8 = Rs. 144

For 10 ACs, daily electricity expenses would come to Rs. 1440. Monthly electricity expenses for 10 ACs would be Rs. 43200. Now, let us assume that you keep your 10 ACs on standby or sleep mode after the normal business working hours. Thus, the number of hours in standby of AC is 16 hours (24 hours – 8 hours). The hourly standby wattage usage of each AC is 2 W. So, the daily standby electricity expense of 10 ACs is

(2/1000) x 16 x 9 x 10 =Rs. 2.88

Monthly standby or sleep mode electrical expense of 10 ACs is Rs. 86.4 and yearly it adds up to Rs. 1036.8. See this Rs. 1036.8 as an expense for something that you are not even using. Similarly, there would be several appliances that are kept on standby or sleep mode that not only adds up to unnecessary expenses to your business but also jeopardizes the health of the appliances.

“Energy Australia estimates that standby electricity wastage can contribute up to 10% of your electricity bill.”

How to reduce standby or sleep mode electricity costs?

Standby or sleep mode is like a leaky tap, one drop will not cost you anything but collectively it will turn into a bucket of expenses. Electricity wastage is a real problem and comes with a cost. Below are a few of the ways one can reduce standby or sleep mode costs.

• Turn off the appliances

This is the best practice to ensure that your electricity bill is not out of proportion. Turning off appliances, that need not be left on standby or in sleep mode overnight, at the wall would ensure a check on your monthly electricity expenses.

• Adjust standby or sleep mode settings

Several appliances allow you to modify settings to reduce standby or sleep mode functionality. This means that the device would take a little longer to start up, but that is a small price to pay when you consider the positive impact it will have on your electricity bill and the environment.

• Use energy-efficient models

Higher energy star appliances are more energy-efficient than the lower ones. Appliances with higher energy star have lower standby or sleep mode energy usage.

• Installing Smart Electrical Boards

Smart Electrical Boards, like Enture from Nebeskie Labs, come with smart Wi-Fi switches that help you monitor and optimize your electricity consumption. With controls on an app, one can control the run time of appliances from anywhere and reduce the overall electricity wastage.

These practices, when followed and implemented, have made several businesses cut down their electricity expenses and the results are visible in their P/L statements. Businesses have been using Enture, an electricity management platform, to track their electricity consumption and wastage at the device level and to cut down 90% of the electricity wastage.