Utilities warn about power-saving device

A new warning has been issued about telemarketers selling a device that claims to reduce electricity consumption by 40 per cent.

Power-stream, the hydro utility that serves areas north of Toronto, says some of its customers have been getting calls from a company marketing such a device.

The gadget, which can be held in one hand, claims to chop power consumption dramatically when it’s plugged into an electrical circuit.

The Electrical Safety Authority says it has issued alerts twice about similar products, in 2009 and 2011, because they’ve never been tested in Canada. The Canadian AntiFraud Centre also warned about the devices last summer.

And Sask-power issued a blunt warning to its customers in Saskatchewan this week that “there is no magic device that will reduce your power use.”

Eric Fagen, Power-stream’s director of corporate communications, said he recently got a call himself. The telemarketer referred Fagen to a website selling a device for $180. (Fagen said he was quoted a regular price of $200, but offered a reduced price of $160 by the telemarketer.) Power-stream doesn’t endorse any such device, Fagen said. Power-stream has never seen the device being marketed, nor has it been approached by the company. The website selling the device has no address or phone number. The Star emailed some questions to the company through the website but got no response.