That's a bit extreme. USB A connectors have been around for well over 20 years and were used through USB1, USB2 and now USB3. Whilst the majority of new devices are built with the USB C connector, it'll likely still take to the end of this decade before the USB A connector has vanished from most homes.
I don't believe they've even come up with a next gen connector (no reason to?) so USB C connectors are likely to be around for the next 20-30 years i'd bet.
The availability and cost is also significantly better than when the OP made this thread, you can find sockets around the £10-15 mark which is hardly a waste of money if they can support the USB C connector for the next 20+ years.
Also the original comment about power draw, the ones i've got the USB circuits have a draw of 75mW, which i work out to cost about 0.09p a year in running costs. If that's a concern then i'd urge them to not look at the running costs of some of their kitchen appliances.
The physical connector is only 1 very small part of the equation, as I am sure you are aware.
Here is the list of power related spec changes (the relevant bit for the topic at hand):
Release name Release date Max. power Note
USB Battery Charging Rev. 1.0 2007-03-08 5 V, ? A
USB Battery Charging Rev. 1.1 2009-04-15 5 V, 1.8 A Page 28, Table 5–2, but with limitation on paragraph 3.5. In ordinary USB 2.0's standard-A port, 1.5A only.
[46]
USB Battery Charging Rev. 1.2 2010-12-07 5 V, 5 A
[47]
USB Power Delivery Rev. 1.0 (V. 1.0) 2012-07-05 20 V, 5 A Using FSK protocol over bus power (VBUS)
USB Power Delivery Rev. 1.0 (V. 1.3) 2014-03-11 20 V, 5 A
USB Type-C Rev. 1.0 2014-08-11 5 V, 3 A New connector and cable specification
USB Power Delivery Rev. 2.0 (V. 1.0) 2014-08-11 20 V, 5 A Using BMC protocol over communication channel (CC) on USB-C cables.
USB Type-C Rev. 1.1 2015-04-03 5 V, 3 A
USB Power Delivery Rev. 2.0 (V. 1.1) 2015-05-07 20 V, 5 A
USB Type-C Rev. 1.2 2016-03-25 5 V, 3 A
USB Power Delivery Rev. 2.0 (V. 1.2) 2016-03-25 20 V, 5 A
USB Power Delivery Rev. 2.0 (V. 1.3) 2017-01-12 20 V, 5 A
USB Power Delivery Rev. 3.0 (V. 1.1) 2017-01-12 20 V, 5 A
USB Type-C Rev. 1.3 2017-07-14 5 V, 3 A
USB Power Delivery Rev. 3.0 (V. 1.2) 2018-06-21 20 V, 5 A
USB Type-C Rev. 1.4 2019-03-29 5 V, 3 A
USB Type-C Rev. 2.0 2019-08-29 5 V, 3 A Enabling USB4 over USB Type-C connectors and cables.
USB Power Delivery Rev. 3.0 (V. 2.0) 2019-08-29 20 V, 5 A
[48]
USB Power Delivery Rev. 3.1 (V. 1.0) 2021-05-24 48 V, 5 A
[49]
USB Type-C Rev. 2.1 2021-05-25 5 V, 3 A
[50]
And then within the standards we have additional technologies like QuickCharge, which is an additional controller within the charger:
Technology Voltage Maximum New features Release date Notes
Current Power[a]
Quick Charge 1.0 Up to 6.3 V
[13] 2 A 10 W
- AICL (Automatic Input Current Limit)
- APSD (Automatic Power Source Detection)
2013 Snapdragon 215, 600
[14][15]
Quick Charge 2.0
- Class A: 5 V, 9 V, 12 V
- Class B: 5 V, 9 V, 12 V, 20 V[16]
1.67 A, 2 A, or 3 A 18 W (9 V × 2 A)
[17]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Charge#cite_note-19
- HVDCP (High Voltage Dedicated Charging Port)
- Dual Charge (optional)
2014[c] Snapdragon 200, 208, 210, 212, 400, 410, 412, 415, 425, 610, 615, 616, 800, 801, 805, 808, 810[19]
Quick Charge 3.0 3.6–22 V[20] in 0.2 V increments.[16] 2.6 A, or 4.6 A[20] 36 W (12 V × 3 A)
- HVDCP+
- Dual Charge+ (optional)
- INOV 1.0 & 2.0
- Battery Saver Technologies
2016 Snapdragon 427, 430, 435, 450, 617, 620, 625, 626, 632, 650, 652, 653, 665, 820, 821[19]
Quick Charge 4
- 3.6–20 V in 20 mV increments via QC
- 5 V, 9 V via USB PD[21]
- 3–21 V in 20 mV increments[22] via USB PD 3.0 PPS (Programmable Power Supply)
- 2.6 A, or 4.6 A via QC
- 3 A via USB PD
- 100 W (20 V × 5 A) via QC[17]
- 27 W via USB PD
- HVDCP++
- Dual Charge++ (optional)
- INOV 3.0
- Battery Saver Technologies 2
- USB PD compatible
2017 Snapdragon 630, 636, 660, 710,[23][24] 835[25][26]
Quick Charge 4+
- Dual Charge++ (mandatory)
- Intelligent Thermal Balancing
- Advanced Safety Features
Snapdragon 670, 675, 720G, 712, 730, 730G, 845, 855, 865[27][28]
Quick Charge 5 >100 W
- >100 W charging power
- 100% in 15 minutes
- Better thermal management (not more than 40 °C)
- Dual Charge
2020 Snapdragon 865, 865+, 870, 888
And this is ignoring the various varieties of PD that exist (and desperately need to be upgraded to enable quick charging for laptops).