I think most people will be surprised by how much power is consumed by all the things in the house that they thought were turned "off". For example, anything controlled by a remote control, like TV's and entertainment systems, need to draw power while off to detect a remote control signal. The amount of power drawn can vary widely. Some are miserly, others are not. PC's and laptops are other appliances that many of us leave on all day. Even while in sleep mode, they can draw enough power to really add up over time.