With recent concerns raised about the increase in consumption of electricity by set-top boxes in the wake of digitisation, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said set-top boxes (STBs) consume less power than a CFL light.
The Ministry clarified in a statement that most STBs consume about 8 watts of power. It added that STBs consume even lesser electricity when they are on standby mode.
“TVs, fans and tube lights each consume about 60 watts of power against the power of 8 watts consumed by a STB. These boxes would consume only about one-fifth of a unit of electricity in a day against 1.5 units consumed by a fan, a TV or a tube light. Thus, cable STBs consume nominal electricity to the tune of 5-6 units in a month, which is insignificant in comparison with the electricity consumed by other electric appliances in a house,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry’s statement added that digitisation would offer huge benefits to consumers in terms of providing superior quality of picture and sound, choice of channels from a large bouquet, movies and games on-demand and these benefits would be available to consumers at nominal electricity consumption.