Powering up gadgets costs Brits £1.9bn

British consumers are adding almost £1.9 billion to their annual electricity bills in order to charge up their various gadgets, a study by uSwitch.com has established.

The price comparison firm reports that charging up electronic gadgets uses the entire output of 14 power stations and that much of the time mobile phones and iPods are being left plugged in around the home unnecessarily.

In fact, a total of some 22 million mobile phones are being charged up everyday in the UK and uSwitch.com expects that almost half of the typical household electricity bill will be accounted for by gadgets by 2020.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, commented:
"Gadgets that were unheard of ten years ago are now seen as indispensable to modern day living.

"But clearly this is coming at a cost and with both household electricity bills and carbon emissions going up, the price may not be one we wish to pay."

According to separate piece of uSwitch.com research, average disposable incomes among British households are now at their lowest levels since 1997.

26/10/2007 14:51:16