The cost of electricity is getting higher all the time, but you might be surprised how much power your appliances are using, even when they're turned off.

Plasma screens, Tivo's, DVR's. They’re the gadgets that make the world go round. But they're also huge consumers of power - and turning them off doesn't always help.

Sondralee Orengia of Custom Audio says, "A lot of our equipment that we have in our home like our stereo receivers, our computers, and all of these peripherals, are always on, constantly, even when in standby mode."

It's called vampire power. From TV’s and computers to DVD players and clock radios... even cell phone chargers.

Even if you've turned them off, they're sucking away at your power supply.

"It literally has a switch inside that is waiting for you to hit that remote control and turn it on. It’s always waiting. It’s at idle!" Orengia says.

So what can you do about it? You could always just unplug them. But that's not always practical -- and it's just annoying.

Another solution is to buy a "smart strip.” It costs about forty bucks, and it senses when you've hit the "off" button on your remote. Then it cuts off all the power -- even on standby -- and voila, you don't have a vampire anymore.

Experts say the savings are significant and the strips can pay for themselves very quickly.

"You could actually save 10-15% on your electric bill by using some of these smart strips," says Orengia.

Many utilities offer free online energy audits. They give a detailed analysis of how much the energy vampire might be stealing.