Tips to slay the (energy) vampires in your home

NASHVILLE – The little vampires who ring your doorbell on Halloween night aren’t the only ones you should be afraid of. Electricity vampires are all over your house—all year long.

Electrical vampires are appliances and electronics that continue to pull electricity, even when they are turned off.

According to the US Department of Energy, vampires account for up to 5 percent of the energy in your house. To save you from a witch hunt, electric co-ops offer a list of the most likely vampires in your house:

1. Computers, modems, routers, printers and other related equipment.
2. Your flat-screen TV. The larger it is, the more energy it uses, even when turned off.
3. Home theater equipment, including surround-sound devices.
4. Your cable or satellite TV box.
5. Anything with a digital time display, like your microwave oven or DVD player.

If an electrical device has a continuous display, like a digital clock, if it charges batteries, like your mobile phone charger, or if it has a remote control, like your TV—it’s a vampire.

The best way to stop these vampires is to unplug them when you’re not using them. You may also consider purchasing power strips so you have to pull just one plug to stop a group of electronics from using vampire electricity.