I agree that the discrepancy is unusually high. The idle power consumption for other drives reviewed by them is lower and more in line with expectations. Every

I agree that the discrepancy is unusually high. The idle power consumption for other drives reviewed by them is lower and more in line with expectations. Everything is more expensive in Germany, energy in particular. A rather high VAT (19%) in addition to taxes specific to energy, including gasoline and eletricity, cause this. Part of this is due to a conscious political decision to encourage energy conservation and investment into renewable energy; in fact, of the 0.2 EUR/kWh, about 0.03 EUR are a flat tax/allocation towards renewable energy. This has spurred photovoltaics, but particularly wind energy, which in 2010 accounted for 6.2% of the total electricity.