Charged-up Britain - Over a Quarter of People Bicker With Their Loved Ones About Their Gadget Overcharging Habits

The power of love: The research shows our tendency to remain plugged-in is causing heated arguments, with over a quarter (28%) of people bickering with their loved ones about their overcharging habits.

The power of love: The research shows our tendency to remain plugged-in is causing heated arguments, with over a quarter (28%) of people bickering with their loved ones about their overcharging habits.

Cheeky chargers: Not content with charging in the home, gadget guzzlers are plugging in whilst out and about too. Over 3.2 million^[3] men enjoy a 'power pint' by charging their smartphone at the pub. And three in 10 admit to plugging in while at friends' houses in fear of running out of juice while on the move.

The blame game: Over half (58%) of parents admit to blaming their kids for careless overcharging.

To help people charge their gadgets efficiently, whilst also getting the most from their tech, E.ON has teamed up with gadgets expert, Jason Bradbury, to offer tips and advice to help get the most of everyone's favourite gadgets.

Jason Bradbury, gadgets expert, said: "It's astonishing that over half of people are overcharging their gadgets - there is clearly a lot of confusion about what's good for technology.

"Overcharging a gadget can often do more harm than good; it can reduce the lifespan of batteries. So it's important to check the optimum charging time for each individual gadget to make sure you keep it working well and ensure you don't use more energy than you need to."

Overcharged gadgets:

According to the research, the gadgets most often left overcharging are:

Reasons for overcharging:

The main reasons for leaving gadgets plugged in are:

The research exposes 18-34 year olds as the biggest perpetrators with over two thirds confessing to overcharging. The average time gadgets are left overcharging is nearly three hours - with men the worst offenders.

Beverley Maguire, energy efficiency expert at E.ON, said: "Leaving gadgets on charge is causing heated arguments in households across Britain. The biggest problem is people plugging their mobile phones in to charge and forgetting all about them.

"There are simple steps we can all take to ensure we aren't needlessly wasting energy. For example, mobile phones only take between one to two hours to charge, so if you don't want to keep checking on its progress, just set your alarm for two hours later so you'll know when it's fully charged.

"We offer lots of tips to help people save energy at eonenergy.com."

Notes to editors:

1.    Based on ONS figure of 44.9 million UK adults in 2011 x average number of gadgets (13.5) = 606.15 million;

2.    Research carried out amongst 1,997 UK adults by http://www.visioncritical.com in February 2013;

3.    15% of total UK male adults (21,503,900) England and Wales (source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 census) = 3,225,585.