NEW rules to cut the enormous amount of electricity used by television sets, video recorders, set-top digital boxes and other household appliances left on standby are to be approved by EU environment ministers this week.

The new energy-efficiency standards will apply to new items such as boilers, washing machines, chargers, computers and DVD players.

Officials have calculated that the equivalent output of around 50 power stations across Europe could be prevented by 2010 by using more efficient appliances - with significant savings for household electricity bills.

The amount of pollution that could be saved has been calculated at about 180 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2010 - half the EU's total commitment under Kyoto.

Elliot Morley, environment minister, said : "We know that products can be designed to be much more efficient and do less harm to the environment.'' The aim of the directive is to bring the energy needs of appliances down by 20 per cent over eight years.

Mr Morley said the new Eco-Design for Energy Using Products Framework Directive set up a system which would allow voluntary energy-efficiency standards to be set for dozens of products.

These would be reviewed in three years to assess whether mandatory standards were needed.

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