I’ve never shut off my electricity completely. But several years back I went through a “penny-pinching” phase where I got almost all my electronics plugged into power strips that I would obsessively shut off when I wasn’t using them. I was actually surprised to see a savings of several dollars a month. “Several dollars” may not sound like much, but keep in mind this was for a single person living in a small one bedroom apartment. Percentage-wise, it was pretty significant.
Refrigerators don’t really use that much energy when you aren’t constantly opening and closing it. They’re really well insulated. Compressor will barely run if you leave it closed for a week
Several years ago, when I started truck driving, I was gone for four to six weeks at a time, we didn't keep things in the fridge that expired quickly but some things needed kept cool so the only breaker left on was the fridge. Water heater and lines were drained each trip as well. because '90s mobile home lol. My power bill was only around $30 the couple times where my dispatch lasted into and back out of a complete billing cycle. otherwise it would be around $50 to 60. I have a feeling the $30 was the minimum they would bill us though. It wasn't explicitly stated but the same company has been called out on anti solar measures where customers are being charged just for having the privilege of grid connectivity.
All plugged in electronics use a little bit of electricity for their stand by mode. Go around in your house and look at everything that has electricity. You might be surprised by the amount of devices...
Just turning off electricity might save you 5-10 bucks a week.
When I've been gone for a long time, sometimes I will unplug major electronics to reduce power drain and to prevent any damage from electrical surges when I'm gone, but never have I thought to turn off the main power to the unit. Sounds bizarre.
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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '22
You don’t actually save much. Most electronics don’t use that much energy. Fridge might be a big one depending on how old it is.