Five 'vampire appliances' that are adding £290 a year to your energy bill

'Vampire appliances' which drain power even when you are not using them can add almost £300 a year to your energy bill .

British Gas said that up to 23% of British homes' energy use could power vampire appliances - that's £293 of the average energy bill capped at £1,277 a year, the Mail reports.

The cost of variable rate energy bills for the average household is capped by regulator Ofgem. That cap is rising from to £1,971 on April 1 .

Energy expert Rob Bohm says these devices add up to billions of pounds in wasted power every year.

Bohm said: "They're electrical appliances, chargers and lights all over your home, devices that suck power from the mains — constantly — even when you think they're switched off."

Five vampire appliances - and how much they cost you

• Hi-Fi system on standby - £73 a year
• Sky box on standby - £73 a year
• Laptop charger not in use - £60 a year
• TV on standby- £10 a year
• Printer on standby - £10 a year

Bohm said that when you turn your television off, make sure you do it at the wall.

This is because TVs use a small amount of power to make them quicker to turn on.

That might be convenient, but it is costing you money.

He said the same thing applies to dishwashers and washing machines, as well as electronics such as gaming consoles and computers.

Earlier this month the financial blogger Mrs Mummypenny gave The Mirror some other money-saving tips to help whittle down your energy bills.

She managed to save £80 per year by turning her thermostat down by just one degree.

Her other top tips included:

• I bought a shower timer and asked everyone in the family to shower for five minutes a day only. This resulted in an £80 a year saving.
• I have totally stopped using the tumble dryer, using a clothes airer instead. Each tumble dryer cycle was costing around £1, prudently assuming I used it twice a week, this is a saving of £104 a year.
• All appliances are switched off at the wall, nothing is left on standby. This minor change saves around £30 per year.
• A super simple change is to only boil the kettle for the one or two cups of tea/coffee you are making. This has saved around £7 per year.

There are lots of other changes you can make to save energy usage and reduce bills too.

• Convert all your lightbulbs to low energy bulbs.
• Ensure lights are always switched off in rooms not being used. Something that took a while of nagging the children to change their habits.
• The oven, hob and microwave all use a lot of energy. Consider a slow cooker where you can
• make money saving meals and save energy.
• If you are using your oven, batch cook bigger quantities of food. Make the most of the time the oven is switched on.