Over a year ago, I blogged about this little power-saving device which promises to lower electricity usage in the household. I thought it would be wise to look at all the data points and review the performance of the device.
The data points I’ve collected include all the last 13 months that we’ve been using this Power Saver Max. In order to minimize extraneous factors (and margins of errors), I’ve taken note of the electrical appliances we used at home:
- 2 x desktop computers, 1 laptop
- 1 x 6.5cu. ft. ref
- 1 x 42″ LCD TV, 1 x 32″ LCD TV x 1 x 29″ CRT TV
- 2 x 1hp air conditioners, 3 x electric fans
- 2 x aquariums with lights, filters and aerators
- 2 x wifi routers, 1 x telefax
- 1 x Apple TV, 1 x HDX1000 NMT
I didn’t count all the other smaller devices that I causally charge (other phones, laptops, cameras, printers, media players, etc). For the last 13 months, here’s a plot of the power usage that we’re billed by Meralco.
Note that off-peak usage starts at around June to September and peak months are usually April and May. The other months are isolated cases that involved abnormal power usages due to additional head count in the house (which changes the normal power usage patterns of appliances).
As expected, the Meralco Bill we get is directly proportional to the power usage consumed. However, there have been fluctuations in the charges since the amount per kHw also changes on a monthly basis — this could be due to forex, taxes and other variables but more significantly, due to power price hikes made by Meralco.
Based on all the data gathered since March 2009, the cheapest rate was for the month of October 2009 at Php8.97 and the highest is March 2010 at Php11.17. The average rate from all 13 months is Php9.58.
So I used these usage data and the 13-month average to extrapolate my electric bill had the rates were a fixed amount.
Here are some conclusions we can draw from the data above:
- Last month’s power rate, Php11.17 for March 2010, is 16.6% higher than the last 13-month average of Php9.58.
- Our 13-month average and median power consumption is 773kWhr. The Power Saver Max did not reduce our usage in the last 13 months of having it plugged on the wall. In fact, it has gone higher since our usage before that was around 723kWhr (that’s 50kWhr higher). If nothing else, I guess it helped by not making the power usage way higher (we also use fancy spotlights or pin-lights at home on top of CFLs).
- There was only 1.5% increase in usage when comparing March 2009 and March 2010 consumption. If the trend continues, I’m looking at 920kWhr for April and 956kWhr for May 2010. Using March 2010 power rates, that’s Php10,300 and ~Php10,700 respectively — first time to cross the 10k mark if ever that happens.
So, the question remains — does the Power Saver Max really work? I think, somehow it did prevent us from consuming more power than we should have. I’m still a bit skeptic though so what I’ll do is plug it off starting June to September later this year and compare the monthly usage from last year and the year before.
Note: The effective power rate mentioned here is computed by dividing the electric bill by the power usage. The actual power rates by Meralco are lower but padded with taxes and other extra charges. The device we used is this one: Power Saver Max.
The best is to use appliances with higher power factor so you don’t have to correct it by adding power saving device.
I have been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if
all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.
Power Saver V3 really works for me. My normal electricity bill range from 16,000 – 18,000 per month. I have swimming pool, jacussi, aircons and fans, centralized water heating system, my water is pressurized and another factor for high electricity bill is this dimmer switch which use a very cheap bulb but had to use 50-100watts (not that I like it, but this was already set up when we bought this home). Last week of July, I bought 3 pcs Power Saver V3 in Handyman and use it for 2 weeks before I had another Bill. Guess what??? for 2 weeks of using it, my bill lowers down to P13,600 instead of the normal range i used to. I went back to Handyman and get another 2 because they said that in my case, I can use up to 5pcs. I also found out that I should not remove it during brownouts which I did. I always pulled it off during brownout which I should not be doing. Well, will see next billing…
if u dont mind mam, may i know if where do u put the power saver
if u dont mind mam, may i know if where do u put exactly the power saver? should it be plugged in the outlet where u also plug in the appliance?
I bought this power saver from Mega mall. We even bought two power savers for two different houses in different locations.
After the first month of usage, our meralco bill came out with almost identical usage and amount from the previous month. Both these two houses where we installed the power savers had the same experience. There was no change in our bills. Our monthly bill was 1,900. With the device plugged in, a month later, it was still 1,900. Consumption was still the same.
I believe that this is a total SCAM selling these devices to ordinary people like me in the malls.
If these devices are only to work for big industries, then they should not sell us home owners these SCAM power savers.
Now, I am looking for the receipt. I will go back to Megamall and hopefully be allowed to return the two items we bought. If not, then the PRESIDENT of the Philippines has to stop this huge power saver SCAM asap.
Read ‘The Great “Power Saver” Fraud’ by a chap named Rod Elliot at http://sound.westhost.com/lamps/power-savers.html
The article asserts that ALL plug-in power savers of the type being marketed now in malls yield little or no savings in electricity – your consumption may actually go up since the device itself consumes power.
There’s a lot of technical detail in the article, so if you’re not inclined to wade through the whole piece, skip over to the Conclusion. Some of the links provided at the end are also interesting.
bakit ayaw pa pumasok si DTI or DOST sa issue na ito. binebenta ito sa lahat ng malls and DTI or DOST or PS should finally say something!!!
NASA PINAS KASI TAYO. PATI DEPT OF ENERGY PILAY
i am working on a power industry company and power saver is not working except for industrial applications
POWER SAVERS ARE APPLICABLE TO ALL USERS
Tama!
latest POWER SAVER (HAndyman) ngaun ay 2000-Watts capacity. kpag lumagpas ung appliances nyo don, magdagdag pa ng power saver. dpat sinasabi ng Sales Man 2 b4 tau bumili para maEducate nman tau.
HINDI tlga magagaSave kpag LAGPAS sa wattage na kaya ng Power Saver ang Actual Load.
Sana it helps”,)
Good afternoon, i saw the demo at handyman regarding powersaver. I have a customer and he wanted to use this at his resorts. The problem is do we need to unplug this gadget when the power is supplied by a generator set. This happen only when the electric power is no available or brown out.If it is ok, we can order from 56 pcs of powersaver.
Florante Bautista
Mobile number: 092091*****6
email add: florantebaut****@****.***
Sir Yuga, it’s now October 2011… what happened to your test? you said you were going to unplug your powersaver from june to sept, and compare it with your last year’s consumption.
im on the same boat as you are, trying to figure out if this thing really works.
please let me know.
Thanks!
Jison
we cannot outright say its a scam..here’s why:
the power saver works on the principle of power factor correction. that power triangle mentioned above is a correct representation of 3 kinds of power in a power system, however Franz failed to consider and site that as the power factor of any electrical system becomes unity of equal to 1 (which in the case of the power saver is its function, to make the power factor of our resedencial or commercial electrical system becomes unity) the current drawns by the circuit is reduced. when the current is reduced then the system losses of the circuit is reduced and the savings on your bill is directly proportional to this loss reduction. One thing that we should understand about this devices is that “they are not intended to alter or reduced the power being drawn by our loads or appliances, because in the first place it is impossible to do, but rather they are intended to reduce the system losses of our sestem”
Any update on this? I just bought a unit 3 days ago, but after reading all the negative feedback.. i’m thinking twice if I should return it.
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@Blaze – It’s good to be positive, it’s not bad to be cautious. Many of us have a grasp of the theory, so there are reasons for us to be skeptics.
To prove a point, I’ll conduct an experiment at home and plug in those Baygon electric mosquito repellant. I’ll take a look at our monthly bill before and after and publish the results here. If it yields positive result, then we would all have to aggree that it works. Unless of course we give credence to theory, and we can try to rationalize the results.
I think you’re either too skeptic or you’re just doing it wrong. LOL
Anyway, I’m not one to argue but lemme share some of what we’ve had so far..
House description:
3 floors
5 toilets and bath
Appliances/stuff that consumes the most electricity (I think):
4 box type aircon *for all the rooms*
1 split type aircon *for the 1st floor/sala etc*
3 industrial fans
1 2-door er.. ref, lol
2 laptops
1 desktop
2 big LCD tellies for the master’s bedroom and the sala on the 3rd floor
2 normal/CRT TVs for the other 2 rooms
**other stuff such as the microwave, wifis/modems, aquarium, lights etc would be left out as they’re normally used but well.. basta lang, I want them left out. LOL
***Sorry, no charts or whatever kasi I’m not good with Excel or whatever, hehehe.
Normal bill’s 9-12k. Depending on the season — and yes, it’s higher on the summers — hence, we try to not be here as much as possible on summers, LOL.
For 4 months now we’ve been using this power-saving thingy.. and I guess it’s just working ok. It’s not too impressive but it’s not a disappointment, either.
First month with the thing has kept our bill at 10k, coming from a 10k from the previous month, too. It’s fine. We gave it a chance. 2nd month, our bill went down to almost well.. less than 300-500Php. Quite pathetic, I tell you. But hey, it does seem to be doing its job, eh? So my parents thought it’s probably just not able to keep up with the house seeing that it’s all alone and we have the typical townhouse. So my mom went to Ace and was gonna purchase another one — when she saw it was on sale! 50% off, baby! Hell, yeah!
So she got 2 more! She was planning on putting one per floor but the salesman gave her tips. Tips we thought sounded stupid at first.. but what the heck, right? We were already using a device that was ridiculously expensive so why not “follow” the proper usage, eh?
Apparently, the man from Ace told my mom she was to plug it near the main switchboard (or whatever it’s called, lol). So that’s one. And because we had 2 new ones, she was advised to plug them in outlets where they would be alone and won’t be shared with other appliances. So an outlet with 2.. uhm.. outlets? haha, whatever, just 1 power saver should be plugged in it and no other appliances should be plugged in the same spot. Upon hearing these tips, my mom immediately rang and told my brother to transfer the thing to the kitchen where the main switch was hidden in one of the cupboards — insisted he did this asap!
Long story short, she took the man’s advise and 2 months later.. we’re doing a good 7-7.5k/mo bill (for 2 months now), same appliance and electricity usage. No “don’t turn it on” nor “turn the damned thing off” etc. At least that’s what’s happening now. It may have something to do with the fact that it isn’t as hot as it was a month ago and that it’s started raining.. or it could really be the power-saving thingy. We even forgot we had them until my mother saw the bill and almost cried from happiness.. whatever it was, we’ll keep them plugged in for now. And I’ll probably remember to update you guys or let you know about our future bills.. but for now, I’m quite fine with the fact that we have them. Working or not.. we’ll find out soon with the upcoming bills. :D
Good day everyone, smile and just be positive!