State pensioners told to unplug two appliances after losing £300 Winter Fuel Payment

State pensioners who have lost their £300 Winter Fuel Payment this winter just as energy bills are going up another 10 percent will be looking for any way they can to save money in the coming cold months.

And now consumer magazine Which? has shared one way to cut costs this winter - by unplugging items which use a surprising amount of electricity, adding money to your bill, even when they're doing absolutely nothing.

While everyone is aware of how much it costs to run high energy use appliances like tumble dryers, ovens or the , at least all of these items are contributing something useful to your home.

By contrast, there are some appliances which simply sit on standby and slap money on your bill, even when they're not doing anything at all.

According to Which?, wireless speakers/smart speakers and sound bars are bad for guzzling energy on standby.

It said: "They're the most power-hungry gadgets in standby, costing around £6 per year (based on 20 standby hours per day)."

£6 may not sound a lot, but it's £6 per speaker, and £6 for doing nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Other appliances worth checking are PCs, games consoles and TVs. Most such devices are effectively designed to never be fully switched off, and instead sit on standby so that they can be turned on at a moment's notice.

But because of modern design, a PC takes only a few more seconds to start up from a cold start than it does to come off standby, so you're really gaining nothing by leaving it on standby other than adding more money to your bills.

It comes at a time state pensioners will lose their £300 Winter Fuel Payment unless they are on Pension Credit - and as many as 800,000 people aren't even claiming that when they should be, according to