Even if its late since this post occured, just saw it way too late ... here are my five cents for the few who might search our board and find this posting.
The capacitor power save (saver) is the big scam of this decade. Everybody is thinking green and this causes the snake oil guys to leave their hide out.
I personnaly tested single and three phase (industrial) capacitor units (auto adjusting and fixed) and their impact onto energy savings. Often these devices are also mixed with transient and harmonic suppression filters. Often the claim is that 10% to 30% are the norm. Who would not buy into that? I had scopes and energy meters on these units, ran them on residencies, tested at one industrial facility and witnessed a university test.
The way the savings are often displayed to the untrained eye is by messing with real power and apparent power. Only few people know that their utility meter is set up to read real power (KWh) only. The capacitor units reduce Kvarh only, and a common meter will not even budge on that.
Take it from somebody who tested these "$5.00 inside units" : Save your money and spend it somewhere else!!!!
