In a bid to conserve energy and save money I now turn off everything that used to remain on stand-by.

Items left on stand-by can account for up to 10% of an average household electricity bill.

Quite a staggering percentage considering that it is just money down the drain.

A few weeks ago I remember seeing an episode of Dragon’s Den (A group of rich people that want to be on TV) in which an entrepreneurial duo had developed a long-life battery operated multi-socket adapter that plugged in between your electrical supply and your ’stand-by’ item. It looked like a normal multi-socket adapter but effectively acted as a remote control on/off switch for the mains.

Every single ‘Dragon’ wanted in on this product, they were all buzzing and getting excited and it was a first for the show.

One suggested use for this device was to incorporate it into every new electrical item sold (so imagine the potential!).

I bought something similar from Lidl years ago that did much the same thing. Naturally I now use them for stand-by items and not to look cool with remote control lighting but I can always buy more if I want to!

Search ebay for ‘remote control plugs’ and you’ll see the kind of thing I have.

They look a bit like this:

For about £15 - £25 depending on the seller you can have 3 units that plug into your wall socket. Each of which is independently operated by the remote control. (My set came with 4 and one was a dimmer! How cool did I look!)

Plug your normal multi-socket adapter and you can turn off everything with the press of a button. (Check power ratings first of course!)

The simple way to turn off your stand-by items by remote control! (OK so you have another remote but what’s one more if it saves you £’s!)

And now for the pessimists’ perspective:

If this kind of technology becomes widespread and more and more households switch off their stand-by items, will the electricity companies be able to remain competitive?

What do they usually do to prevent themselves from reporting a loss in profits?

Will all the efforts people put into saving electricity only be met with increased prices?