And the winner of the Pants on Fire Award is… DB2 Management OÜ who sell a product called ‘Ecovolt’. This device, which plugs into a standard 13A wall socket, is claimed to cut 30-50% off your electricity consumption. What makes it a stand-out candidate for the Pants on Fire Award is the advertisers’ invocation of conspiracy theory::Their web site includes a short video purporting to prove the device’s energy-saving effect. It shows a pair of electric hair clippers on an extension adaptor drawing 0.28 A. When the Ecovolt device is plugged into a neighbouring socket, the current falls to 0.08 A. Electrical engineers will recognise this as an example of power-factor correction and nothing to do with reducing the real power drawn by the appliance; like the EPS Energy Saver which I reported on a couple of years ago (pictured below), the Ecovolt probably contains a big capacitor and not much else.

The visitor to the web site sees continual pop-up notices saying that Tatiana, Sara, or Phillip and so on have just ordered Ecovolt. Keep your eye on those alerts for more than 70 seconds and Tatiana, Sara and Phillip appear again followed by six other repeated names. That’s the kind of loyal customer we all want.

The firm operates out of a Post Office Box in Tallinn, Estonia, and sells a diverse product range including night driving glasses, dash cams, and non-stick frying pans. I ought also to mention that Ecovolt is someone else’s trade mark.