Melbourne, June 3 : Game consoles like Play Station3 are likely to eat up five times more power than your medium fridges sized refrigerator, according to a new study.

The study led by Consumer group Choice has revealed that a Sony Playstation 3, switched on but not in use, could cost almost 250 dollars a year in electricity than the fridge costing less than 50 dollars.

However, Plasma television sets burn up more than four times as much energy as a traditional analogue set.

The average desktop PC, tested independently of its monitor, was third on the list of highest energy consumers.

But the PC's Apple equivalent, the iMac, an all-in-one model with a built-in display, used just two-thirds of the energy consumed by a monitor-less PC.

The LCD computer monitors use up only about half as much energy as the older cathode-ray tube monitors.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said he hoped the results of the study would be eye-opening for the public.

"While we hope no one actually leaves their games console on for a whole year 24/7, the figures are indicative of just how much electricity these small devices can chew their way through," News. com. au quoted Zinn, as saying.

Choice suggests that computers and computer products should be subject to the energy rating star system used for whitegoods in Australia, to help consumers choose energy-efficient models. (ANI)