Big companies always blame video games for something. It's usually violence, as any veteran gamer will tell you. But rising energy bills are certainly news. This time, British Gas claimed that switching off "vampire appliances" could save it "an average of €147 a year" or €183.
In a BBC News report, British Gas has advised customers to check what devices are left plugged in - laptops, TVs, phones, consoles - you know the drill - and turn them off to save money. That's standard advice, but given the UK's recent cost of living crisis, it has plummeted like a lead balloon, with many saying these figures are inaccurate.
As Eurogamer noted, one response read: "This is factually incorrect and a shameless act of scaremongering by British Gas. TVs have been required by law to use 0,5 watt hours or less on standby since 2013. That's 4,38 .30 kW per year. With electricity at 1,31 pence/kW it will cost £24,61 per year. To say it costs £XNUMX is a lie."
Kudos to the British Gas PR staffer who convinced the BBC to publish this "internal investigation" article as straight news, not a transparent attempt to blame consumers for high energy prices https:// t.co/A83iFg7RKp April 27, 2022
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For those who don't know, we've recently seen terrible increases in the cost of living in the UK, which has had a significant impact on Britain's poorest people. Rents are going up, food prices are up 6% on average, and headline inflation is up 7%. However, perhaps unsurprisingly, the average salary increases do not coincide. High gas and electricity prices are among the most pressing concerns, thanks to an increase in Ofgem's price cap this month.
In this context, British Gas has been criticized for blaming consumers for the high price of the bill and, in my opinion, rightly so. Just to be clear, I'm not a British Gas customer, but my own electricity bill rose by €80 in June to €157 a month (about €195), and that's just for a two-bedroom apartment. People everywhere are in a hurry and blaming video game consoles for this surge is, frankly, ridiculous.
What power saving settings do I have on consoles?
Times are tough, but that doesn't mean you have to completely shut down your home entertainment. There is not a lot of money to turn off devices when they are not in use. So if you're looking for ways to lower your electricity bill while gaming, there are a few things you can do.
Other than lowering the screen brightness or putting it in "airplane mode," there aren't many options specifically on the Switch, though Nintendo's revised models have reduced power consumption considerably. In a power consumption test, Digital Foundry found that some gameplay scenes used 40-50% less power on these new variants compared to the original Switch.
On PS4 and PS5, you can go to System Settings > System > Sleep and Power Saving Options, although there's not much there. All of this provides options to automatically put your PS5 to sleep after a certain amount of time, choosing which features are available in sleep mode, like USB charging, and how long before the controllers automatically turn off. There's also automatic screen dimming when your PS5 is idle.
However, Xbox Series X|S consoles go much further with power saving mode, which was recently updated to allow you to download system and game updates. Using 20 times less power than sleep mode, this is also the default option when players are also setting up their console for the first time. The only compromise is waiting a few more seconds for the console to load, but personally, I'll take the hit. I am happy that Microsoft has taken that step.
Sure, you can save a few bucks over the year by keeping your devices powered off, but don't be fooled into thinking this will save you a lot of money all of a sudden. The BBC report amounts to telling people that if they cancel their Netflix subscription, they will be able to afford a house in a few years. Good.