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The figure was revealed in a written answer to a parliamentary question posed by shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth.

But the value of power consumed by leaving the PCs on was unknown because of variable international energy prices, according to the answer given by Meg Munn, Foreign and Commonwealth Office parliamentary under-secretary.

The practice has been going on five years now. Power consumption tests based

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on the range of personal computers then in use suggested an average of 80 watts for each personal computer, assuming each was idle 14 hours per day. This amounts to four million kilowatts per hour every year or the equivalent of the power needed in more than 300 homes each year.

"It has been our assessment that the risk of lost productivity and the risk to national security that this policy avoids outweighed its cost," adds Munn.

But the response added that the FCO is taking steps to address IT power requirements having installed 3,500 new PCs in offices in the UK.

Under current plans, all 12,000 machines worldwide should have been replaced by 2009. In addition to this, it would apply global policies to ensure a reduction in power consumption, it says.

Earlier this year, the Office of Government Commerce launched a campaign to reduce the amount of energy used by the total government IT estate, and predicted savings of over £10 million a year if departments turned off computers each night.