JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

I’ve wondered about this but never got around to asking.

Dear Cecil:

I once saw a man on Oprah who always unplugged appliances because he didn’t want to pay for “phantom” electricity that would leak through the plug even when the appliance wasn’t being used. Recently, a coworker told my husband he saved a lot of money unplugging TVs, computers, etc. Am I really wasting money leaving appliances plugged in even if I turn them off?

The answer on The Straight Dope.

A friend’s brother was so anxious about wasting electricity that he would unplug the refrigerator whenever he left the house. So the food would spoil and he ended up wasting more than kilowatts.