I’ve seen adverts pop up recently on news sites, such as NewsHub and YouTube, that are selling a device which claims to be able to cut your power bill by 90%. Now, wouldn’t that be nice - if it were true!

The company is called Voltex (opens new window), at getvoltex.com (although this should not be confused with an actual New Zealand business of the same name (opens new window) which manufactures residential electrical components). Voltex sells a set of simple to use devices that plug into a wall socket, which their website claims (opens new window) will clean the dirty electricity in your home. This apparently stabilises your home’s electricity supply and will prolong the life of your home appliances.

I noticed that the URL of the advert I clicked on can easily be manipulated to match the country they’re selling to, which just substitutes the word American for Brit, New Zealander, Australian or Canadian - they use the same graphs, the same numbers, and the same organisation names - like the Public Utility Commission, which exists in the United States but not other countries.

• https://getvoltex.com/article4/ (opens new window)
• https://getvoltex.com/article4/nz (opens new window)
• https://getvoltex.com/article4/uk (opens new window)
• https://getvoltex.com/article4/au (opens new window)
• https://getvoltex.com/article4/ca (opens new window)

The advert is quick to name-drop Nikola Tesla, who is a favourite of conspiracy theorists. The internet is rife with silly ideas that Tesla invented fantastical, physics-defying products that would revolutionise the world but were suppressed by evil governments. Free, unlimited wireless power, an earthquake generator, a camera to take pictures of people’s thoughts via their retinas, and a death beam using accelerated mercury. This device was apparently engineered by three German men using Tesla’s ideas - presumably playing on the stereotype of German engineering being trustworthy. Vorsprung durch technik and all that!

The site claims that electricity companies (Big Energy) are ripping us all off by overcharging for electricity, and suppressing their Tesla-inspired devices. Although there are legitimate claims of over-charging for power in this country, I don’t think the companies are too worried about these devices ruining their business!

An image in the ad shows a meter supposedly reduced from $251 a month to $15 a month, which is even more than the promised "up to" 90%. If we add the protection of appliances to this, the device should easily pay for itself in the first month!

There are images of Facebook conversations where everyone just loves their Voltex devices - although weirdly they’re just screenshots, and a quick search on FB doesn’t uncover any of the people who supposedly commented on how amazing the device is. My guess is that the screenshots are simple fakes, easily made if you know how to use the Chrome Inspector for developers.

The advert says the device is "100% legal", which is not surprising given that it appears to be nothing more than a white box with a funky looking green LED. I was thinking of ordering one to test it out and pull it apart, but at $74 and with no guarantee that the scammers would even bother to send me one, it didn’t seem like a prudent use of my money.

Thankfully a friend told me yesterday about a YouTuber called Big Clive who reviews fake electrical devices. It didn’t take long to find a video where he tests and disassembles a device identical to the Voltex device, in a video titled "Worst fake "power saver" plug yet" - which gives you a clue as to what he thought of the device:

Big Clive’s conclusion about the device is that, if it was wired together correctly, the device would either do nothing or potentially increase your electricity bill - depending on how your meter measures electricity usage. However, the device he pulled apart didn’t even have the main component, a large capacitor, wired up correctly - both the anode and cathode were soldered to the same circuit board trace. So, even if the science was solid, which it isn’t, the device was as good as useless. There’s a concept behind these devices called Power Factor Correction which may be helpful for certain commercial power loads, but definitely not for domestic electricity usage.

There are many other companies out there selling similar devices with similar claims - Eco-Watt, EcoPlug, MiracleWatt, Enersonic, Voltbox, Earthwise Power Saver, Power Saver Pioneer, Energy Saver 1200, etc. Big Clive has tested most of them, and it will come as no surprise to hear that none of them work.

Like pretty much any device that promises fantastical benefits (pain erasers, get rich quick schemes, car fuel additives), it would pay to be skeptical about this product and avoid wasting $75 on what is essentially a 10 cent green light in a 20 cent plastic case. Not only will it not save you any money on your power bill, it might just burn your house down.