Actually, Sorcha,

nearly 30 years ago I bought several GE CFLs (the beaut glass 'shell' made great holders for tea light candles after they stopped working!) - they were nearly AUD$30 each then! - and I only run the lights I need now - and switch off most things that I don't need - I am aware of the 'standby current draw' of things like TVs, etc.

I choose which ones I want on standby (and my bill is quite low) - turning on some items that have a 'standby' setting can cause them to have a 'surge' that may decrease their life if turned on and off at the wall - some new TVs have a setting whereby you can 'fade on and off' instead of a hard switch on and off - this protects the picture tube and increases life.

Nowadays I no longer run the kitchen light all the time - I grew up with the concept that a house was not a home unless there was a light in the kitchen, and that mental sedative thing was hard to break...
:-)

BTW, CFLs are useless if you only switch them on for less than 20 mins to an hour - they take up to 20 mins to get full brightness - depending on the room temperature - and cycling them too short can reduce their life massively - to less even than a normal incandescent - so they are not cost effective for many uses. 'LED' lights are also not economical yet.

A good technical article in the latest 'Silicon Chip' magazine refutes much of the nonsensical pseudo-technical garbage spouted about 'saving electricity'...


Incidentally they are also trying here to get people to use under 200 litres of water person per day - my water bill says I average about 30 litres a day.... :-) (since I stopped watering outside)