Save some cash, get unplugged

There's no way more than $100 a month for him, his wife and a cat could be normal, right?

So Veligdan, 26, looked around his modest one-bedroom apartment for the culprit and decided unplugging his computer when sleeping or working would be a start.

His electric bill fell almost immediately.

Many electronic items still draw power when they're turned off. It's a phenomenon called "phantom" load, and it sucks about 5 percent to 10 percent of the energy used in America's homes each year.

That's the same amount of power generated by 17 coal-fired plants annually, according to Brian Keane, president of the energy-efficiency think tank SmartPower.

Many people talk about going green, but most do want to be bothered with unplugging devices.

That could cost you.

Your cable box and flat-screen TV are among the worst offenders. Microwaves and cell phone chargers are power suckers, too.

"The biggest underrepresented area of energy efficiency is the efficiency of turning things fully off," said Stephen Connors, who researches energy consumption at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.