Open sockets (switched on) waste electricity - Alistair Campbell

[Bert]

On "The Wright Stuff" (Channel 5) this morning (26 June 2012), Alistair Campbell said that open sockets (i.e. with no plug in them) use electricity if they are switched on. Could this be true? I don't see how, but Campbell is not a complete idiot, and I presume he must have got this information from somewhere. Is it an urban myth? He did not mention that it might only apply to sockets that have a light to indicate that they are on.
If it is true, would it still be using electricity if there was an appliance plugged in (not switched on, of course).
If it is true, I presume it must be be a current of micromicroamps.
They were talking about an item in the Daily Telegraph that said that the average family wastes £86 per year by leaving items on stand-by, or leaving battery chargers on when the batteries are fully charged, that sort of thing.

[heathfield]

Alastair Campbell must be right. How else can my electricity bills be so high?

[whiskeryron]

The only electricity in a wall socket with nothing connected is the electricity that is left in the attached cables buried in the wall, so the obvious thing to do is to plug something in, empty the cables & immediately unplug the appliance before the cables have time to fill up again & obviously this way you are bound to save money especially if you can alternate between all the sockets in the house.

W Ron.

[bookbinder]

Nobody's mentioned aliens yet.

[Old_Geezer]

They can buy their own electricity.

[whiskeryron]

A=Automatic
L=Lectrified
I=Internal
E=Energy
N=Neutronic
S=Systems

[MoonRocker]

No wonder New Labour where a disaster with this plonker as a spin doctor! I suppose he thinks thunder is god moving the furniture!

[bookbinder]

Old_Geezer and whiskeryron, you two are priceless! Whatever you're having, I want some of it!

[heathfield]

'Don't leave your TV on standby'. My bleedin' Sony doesn't incorporate an on/off switch! Which bunch of idiots at Sony decided on that?!! I've got to get down on hands and knees to switch it off at the socket. Arrgh! (Great picture though).

[wiltsman]

I remember when electricity came to my village, the old couple next door found it very useful to have an electric light, so that they could easily see to light the candles when they went to bed.
Sorry - deviation from the subject!

[Ignoblius]

Checking out Alistair Campbell's Wikipedia bio: journalist, broadcaster, political aide, author, recovering alcoholic. Nowhere do I find the words "electrician", "engineer" or "scientist".

If your power sockets are drawing current with nothing plugged in, they are probably shorted internally. In that case you should worry more about your house burning down than about minor electricity wastage.

[EDDIE51]

I,m going to get a load of wires and put plugs on each end , then I can plug both ends into diffrent sockets so any leaking electricitywill just go back into a diffrent plug hole !

[Bert]

First, in reply to gen2, he did say that he went round his house switching sockets off because (he believed) that they used electricity even with nothing plugged in. Other members of the panel expressed surprise, but he afirmed what he had said.
I emailed him and had a reply. he said he had been told this by an 'energy consultant'. I suggested this was probably a euphemism for a 'salesman', as well qualified to talk about electricity as Gillian McKeith is to talk about nutrition.