Power Savers at Meralco Power Lab

Do Power Savers work? Who better to answer that question than Alfred Iporac, manager of Meralco Power Lab!

Long story short, "power savers" don't work for residential users and you're wasting your money. For the longer story, keep reading.

I often get asked about these supposed "power savers" and I see them installed in homes and businesses throughout the Philippines.

The truth is, they don't save you anything. At best the sale of these power savers is misleading, at worse it's a straight up scam.

The principle behind power savers is somewhat legitimate. They use a capacitor to improve your Power Factor and reduce current. The thing is, residential users are billed for kWh, so it makes no difference how good or bad your power factor is.

Aside from that, the tiny capacitor found inside most of those power savers is far too small to have any noticeable effect.

[GadgetAddict]

This is part of an upcoming video where we tour the Meralco Power Lab. I decided to split this off into a dedicated video because I'm asked about "power savers" so often and so many people are wasting their money on this kind of product. If you enjoyed this video please give a thumbs up and consider sharing it with your friends so they don't waste their money on these things :)

[trevorwesterdahl]

Thanks for being honest. Its amazing how many products are allowed to be sold based on completely false claims.

[chenryrex]

You say that the first one you picked up, does not work. However, the one that I bought a few years ago, at Walmart, in their "As Seen on TV" section, works!

My electric bill went from $259 to $139. The second month. That was 3 years ago.

Since then, my highest bill has been $149. My bill this month, which we just paid, was $98!

I run the air conditioner constantly, I am home most of the time, (retired), and leave the temp on 74 most of the time, winter and summer. My utility bill is higher in the winter because I have a gas heater but, my electricity bill goes down more in the winter.

If it did not work for you, either you had a defective unit or you did not follow the directions.

You have to plug it into the outlet on the same wall and preferably the outlet, near the outside meter.
The reason I believe that my bill went down the second month is because I moved it from the lower electrical socket to the upper one, thus bringing it closer to the meter entrance. (which is what the instructions said)

It worked for me and reduced my bill DRAMATICALLY!

[Gloppp]

Thank you I was considering giving one of these units with a larger capacitor a try as I have a pool motor running 8 hrs a day since they are cheap, however I was unaware that in a residential application my kilowatt hrs are measured in such a fashion... You guys are the best!

[nolsp]

This will be very helpful. Maybe you can also do vid on how much (or how little) power is wasted by keeping our electrical appliances plugged in even when not in use.

[AkoyTamad]

These are scams which have unfortunately been given some legitimacy by being sold at big mall hardware stores (e.g. Ace Hardware, Handyman). DTI should penalize these stores for false claims and advertisements.

[rojiyaaderakuruuzu]

i have one of those, on my experience it does really work, from P3, 000 monthly bill down to P1, 900. u r on meralco lab of course they will say it will not work.

[fitofight]

It is a step down transformer with a capacitor. The voltage is lowered by 10 percent so during demo one will see that the kilowatthourmeter spins much slower since the current is reduced. But in the end it does not reduce the power consumption anyway. The power factor correction is not necessary in most residential dwelling.

[elieceisome]

You can also reduce your power bill by changing out all your inside and outside lighting to LEDs.

[Jodyrides]

38 years working for the electric company in the meter department, in the field, on meters, and as an electrician. Lots of schooling.If anyone falls for this, there is a bridge in New York I want to talk to them about buying

[CollosalTrollge]

I think for demonstration or some form of stats and obtaining a few to several types of devices.
In terms of British Pound versus Philippines Peso it cant be expensive to buy a few different units for test or demo purpose.
For the popularity and growth of this channel it would be a good idea and benefit to not only you but also the viewers.

[yuotosaka]

So I know they don't really save any power but can they smooth out power at house or help with low voltage and also act as surge protector? We have like 185v to 195v here since there's a lot of user yet still the transformer installed in the neighborhood is a small one. I don't plan on buying this since it's kinda a waste of money but may I ask if they still do anything like improve electricity quality? Or they just do nothing.

[pikaso]

Sir. and who ever read this comment. i swear those powersavers are effective! . you may search powerfactor corrector devices.
blame the product demonstrators not the device, those device are really inteded for inductive loads

[reginald]

phew almost bought one before..good thing i changed my mind..

[carlosatienzamalicsi]

The power savers is working in Singapore. My initial savings was 66 KW last month for our refrigerator.

[liammooney]

Thanks guys realy helpful short and sweet

[stanmcdonald]

I have seen this before and it only works on one side of the electrical box. You have a center tap transformer going to your home. one side to center gives you 120 volt the other side to center gives you 120 volts and across the two outsides is 240. This unit only works on one side. in addition you don't want to plug things in to the wall you want to solve the issue at the electric panel because the device itself draws electricity.

[Jimicruz]

Saw FB ad in my news feed. Glad I researched it first. Save my money. Lol Thank you

[renatolosbanos]

There's an ad in Facebook that shows one of these device being sold using Meralco as a brand.

[techtinkerin]

You don't need a lab to know it's cobblers🤣❤️