Eight household items and appliances guzzling energy and costing you hundreds

Households could be wasting energy at a time when costs are at all time high just by leaving their home appliances on when not in use.

Experts estimate that more than £500 a year is spent on paying for the power used by items left switched on, or on standby - with the wasted energy being dubbed the 'phantom load'.

READ MORE - Woman shares 4p hack that dries clothes without putting the heating on

And with the cost of living crisis ongoing, every unit of wasted energy will cost people over 36 per cent more when the price cap is raised in April.

According to the experts, one third of every energy bill in the UK is accounted for by the phantom load, which costs around £506 a year and the wastage is set to increase to £819 in October when the energy price cap is set to be lifted again.

However, the good news is there are ways to reduce it.

The 8 worst secret energy guzzlers

All these devices consume huge amounts of power when left switched on, or on standby. It might be time to take a look around the house at your 'phantom load' - the power consumed in the background when they are unused.

Common phantom load culprits	Average annual cost (current @20.8p per unit)	Average annual cost (April @28.3p per unit)	Average annual cost (Oct @33.6p per unit – 20% increase)
Extra fridges, old fridges or ‘beer fridges’	£73	£99	£118
Desktop computers	£58	£79	£94
Faulty set-top box recorder	£109	£149	£176
Over-sensitive outdoor security lights	£36	£50	£59
Traditional (non smart) electric heating (heating empty home – 40% of time)	£543	£739	£877
Electric underfloor heating (1 extra hour per day)	£227	£309	£367
Two 60w outside lights left on 10hrs per night	£92	£125	£148
Electric towel rail	£109	£149	£176

Steve Buckley, Head of Data Science at Loop, explains: "Many people I speak to are really worried about their energy bills right now, and sadly the situation is not set to improve for some time yet.

"The reality is that the only way we can lower our energy bills right now is to reduce the amount of energy we use and the key to that is measuring our use. If you measure it, you can control it. If you measure it, you can see the impact of changes you make.

"Understanding whether your phantom load is low, medium or high is the first step towards reducing it and can lead to big savings.

"Our app connects to your smart meter so you can benchmark against other households and track your usage and use the data to your advantage. You can easily identify the culprits draining your energy and adding pounds to your bills."