Energy Saving Device: Conceptual Review and Field Measurements

As the demand and cost of electricity keep increasing nowadays, consumers are looking for new methods to reduce their electricity bills. In recent years, a product called "power saver" has gained popularity in the public through both local and international markets. It is claimed that this device can save more than 40 % of the household monthly electricity bill by just plugging it into the wall socket. The main purpose of this paper is to study, examine and investigate this device. Field measurements have been conducted using this device with different types of household appliances. All electrical parameters including voltage, current, active power, reactive power, apparent power and power factor are measured and recorded. This investigation has proven that this device is just a power factor correction tool with no relation at all to the reduction in the monthly electricity bill in the residential sector. The device only improves the power factor of inductive loads by a small value. Even with this improvement, the electricity bill is not reduced as the residential customers are only charged based on the energy consumption in kilowatt-hour (kWh). The measurements have also shown that the device has a negative impact on the resistive and nonlinear loads by causing an increase in the drawn current and apparent power as well as causing a leading power factor with resistive loads.