A 30-day audit with 12 smart plugs (Kasa, TP-Link, Wyze) across one US household identified $14 per month of phantom-load waste. Top 3 surprise phantom drains: programmable coffee maker (15W continuous), gaming PC in sleep (28W), connected treadmill in standby (12W). Setting an automated schedule on the smart plugs to cut power overnight (11 pm to 6 am) recovered roughly $11 of the $14 in monthly waste.
Top 3 surprise phantom drains
Programmable coffee maker: 15W continuous for clock + keypad backlight + scheduled-brew chip. $1.70/month at 16 cents/kWh.
Gaming PC in sleep mode: 28W continuous. RGB lighting + RAM + network adapter. $3.20/month. Sleep mode is not zero-watt.
Connected treadmill in standby: 12W continuous for Wi-Fi connection + control board. $1.40/month.
Scheduling savings recovery
Smart plug schedules cut power overnight (11 pm to 6 am) on top 3 devices. Recovered $5.20/month from coffee maker + gaming PC + treadmill alone.
Extended to 12 smart plugs across the home, total scheduling savings $11 of the $14 monthly waste. Devices unchanged; behavior unchanged.
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