[lutorm]

You do have a point, but really: when was the last time you went and looked at your meter to make sure you weren't using too much? Or looked at how much energy something used when deciding whether to buy it?

The problem is that power use is limited by physics. If your gas stove valve was stuck open and was venting your gas line you'd know, because the house would turn into an oven. Bandwidth use is not limited by any laws except the capacity of the device, so the difference in usage can vary over a much larger range than power use can.