BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The European Union could save the equivalent of Hungary's yearly energy consumption if it had mandatory requirements on "standby" power usage by electrical appliances, a study by the bloc's executive shows.

The European Commission, which plans big increases in energy efficiency by 2020, said it was mulling standards for makers of devices with standby mode after discussions on the report on Friday among EU countries, industry, consumer and green groups.

Many household and office devices such as televisions and computers consume large quantities of electricity by remaining permanently connected in standby mode when not in use, a state normally indicated by a small red light.

"Our aim is to ... drastically reduce standby electricity consumption by household and office products," EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said in a statement.

"This is an important contribution to reach (EU) energy efficiency and climate protection targets ... as well as to save citizens' money."

A Commission spokesman said he could not indicate yet what such mandatory controls might be.

"It has to be taken into consideration -- the economic cost that this might have, the environmental impact that this might have, the timeframe that has to be applied," Ferran Tarradellas Espuny told a news briefing.

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