In times of skyrocketing electricity prices, the standby consumption moves into the focus of savings. Many electronic devices consume a lot of juice in standby mode. This includes WiFi routers. But be careful: if you pull the plug too quickly, you could end up paying more.

According to a calculation by the Bayerischer Rundfunk, anyone who switches off the WLAN router for six hours every night can save between 6 and 11 euros a year at an electricity price of 42 cents (kWh) (source: BR). That doesn’t sound like much, but true to the motto “small animals also make crap”, many thrifty consumers are currently reaching for the plug and switching off the WLAN router at night. But that can be expensive in the long run.

Automatic updates can use up the data volume

The reason: Automatic updates. Smartphones preferably look for updates for the operating system and apps at night. However, the nightly search operation can become a cost trap – namely when the WLAN router is switched off and the smartphone is switched off instead uses mobile data.

Many mobile phone tariffs come with a so-called data automatic fitted. When the fast inclusive volume is used up, new ones are added automatically and for a fee. With an operating system update that often weighs several GB, this can happen in no time at all. If you want to protect yourself from such an unpleasant surprise, you should definitely go into the settings of your smartphone Disable automatic updates over cellular data – for both the operating system and apps.

A balcony power plant helps against high electricity prices:

Energy-efficient household appliances help to save

Real power guzzlers are energy-hungry household appliances. If you want to save here, you can use an energy-efficient washing machine, for example. Stiftung Warentest has revealed which washing machine consumes particularly little electricity and water over its lifetime.

There are more electricity-saving tips in our guide: Saving electricity and water: This is how you use less in the energy crisis.