When your appliances r off and still pluged in, do they still use electricity?

Question

When your appliances r off and still pluged in, do they still use electricity?

Answer 1

It depends on the appliance.  Many have clocks and other electronics that have "settings" that need electricity to function.  It is possible to make an educated guess or, meters will tell you for certain.

Answer 2

Many electronic equipments use some electricity even when they are supposedly "turned off": computer monitor, printer, scanner, TV, DVD box, VCR box, Tivo box are some typical examples. You can use an electricity monitor to measure the electricity usage of an electrical appliance, and compare the usage when it is on and when it is off.

This kind of tools can yield valuable and surprising insights. For example, some people have discovered that their TV/Cable Box combination actually uses more electricity than their fridge!!