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Winnipeg Company Touts Dubious Generator Offer

CALGARY, 4:24 p.m. MDT April 30, 2001 --We all know electricity bills are high, so an offer to save 70 per cent every year would start a stampede.

And that's just what's happening after a newspaper ad started running on the weekend. A new company says it's taking advantage of deregulation to offer big power discounts to Albertans.

This new offer has taken everyone by surprise, including utility companies and the provincial government.

The ads offer $3,000 in free electricity, from a company out of Winnipeg called Free Energy Solutions.

A company spokesperson says it is placing generators in 8,400 Albertans’ homes. It promises, in return, to give 26,000 kilowatts of free electricity every year.

The generator is apparently connected to your homes hydro lines and runs off that. All the customer pays is an installation cost of $200 to $300.

But first, the company needs permission from Enmax -- and so far Enmax hasn't heard of them. “No one can just install things into the existing electrical system on their own,” says Tony Mcallum of Enmax. “This company’s not affiliated with Enmax in any way. We've had no discussions with them to this point.”

The president of Free Energy Solutions says generators won't be delivered until June. He says the manufacturer in New Jersey is supposed to apply for all the licenses and permits.

The province is concerned about the scheme as well. In order to sell or produce electricity in Alberta, a company has to be licensed. So far, Free Energy hasn’t applied for a permit. In fact, the government is looking into whether the scheme is even legal.

The generator itself is made by Better World Technologies. The company claims the generator uses permanent magnet technology to produce more electricity than it uses to run it – in effect, producing free power.

But it's controversial. The Better Business Bureau says the claims are not proven, and highly suspect. Even Manitoba Hydro says it's not aware of any technology that can generate electricity at no cost, and warns people to be skeptical.

But Free Energy Solutions says there's lots of research to back it up.

The company is asking consumers for a credit card number to do a credit check before you can register. The BBB warns you should never give your number to anyone you don't know.

Nonetheless, the company says thousand of people have registered.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), May 02, 2001

Answers

If something sounds too good to be true?

-- Warren ketler (wrkttl@earthlink.net), May 02, 2001.

I am also very skeptical, but these folks seem to be selling some odd and interesting products. http://www.lifenatural.com/techprod.htm

-- (perry@ofuzzy1.com), May 02, 2001.

And of course I forgot to add these folks. The skeptics. http://skepdic.com/refuge/lee.html

-- (perry@ofuzzy1.com), May 02, 2001.

If these generators produce more electricity than they consume, has anyone wondered why they have to run off your local power lines? Why can't they run off the power they produce themselves and use the rest to power your home?

TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

-- Coast Watcher (Coast@watcher.here), May 03, 2001.