Which appliances are pushing up your energy bills?

With the Chancellor confirming that the energy price cap will rise in April, it seems we won’t be taking our eye off our electricity usage any time soon. But while energy saving tips have become a staple of breakfast television shows and small talk, how many of them really add up in practice?

The Spectator’s data team has crunched the numbers to see what typical household devices actually cost to run. And the answers are quite surprising.

Perhaps you’ve heard the warnings over the past weeks of so-called ‘vampire devices’ – those pesky contraptions which carry on costing you money when you’re not actually using them. You may even be among the almost half Britons who say they’re already making an effort to switch off their gadgets at the plug for that reason.

But if you’re not, don’t worry. The average cost of leaving a device plugged in on standby is actually pretty minimal – thanks largely to a handy EU diktat which sets strict limits on how much energy things such as microwaves can use when they’re not on.