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Power4Home review

Power4Home claims on their main page that they are going to show you a "weird" trick that cuts your power bill.  When you get to the site you can find a ridiculous narrated slide show that was torn from the playbook of Glenn Beck (the narrator does a pretty nice impersonation).   You wont be surprised to know that ads for this presentation for Power4Home were found on Fox News website.  The narrator tries to rely on the Beck tactics of over dramatization, blaming the government and greedy corporations, trying to appeal to the audience's emotions while playing loose with the facts, etc.   It's crazy long and you can't pause it so you are forced to listen to it if you want to see this magic tool to help you get 100% off the grid.  Plus the narrator keeps referring to "government electricity".  Most people get their electricity from private power corporations, not the government.  Also note that Power4Patriots is basically the same "product" under a different name.  See the Power4Patriots review on Open4Energy.

Spoiler Alert:  Power4Home is going to try and tell you that you can build your own solar panel system to power your home!  All for just $197.15 (including tax) and it only takes 1 day of work!  The narrator claims that in just the first month he was able to save 74% on his energy bill...but wait...there's more.  He then built a wind turbine to be a net power exporter!  And he was able to save extra cash he didn't have to pay the government.  With the extra cash he used to outsmart the power company and big corporation he was able to take his cute little daughter's to the mall to get a new teddy bear!

Thanks to a comment below you can review the BBB report on Power4Home.  Guess what?  They FAILED.

You can read some of the reviews and thoughts on Power4Home being a scam on the Power4Home Rip Off Report and Open4Energy has a nice page on the Power4Home Scam Review.

Some of the claims from the Power4Home slide show:

  • You can leave your thermostat exactly where you want without having to worry about it
  • Making your home 100% immune to power outages
  • You wont have to act like a "power Nazi" and wont have to yell at your kids to turn off lights or the TV
  • You'll get a goofy grin on your face every time you look at your power meter
  • You can kick your government power addiction (Mapawatt note:  The theme of government electricity is repeated multiple times.  I guess they're going after a certain demographic here.)
  • You can use all the electricity you want and be safe and warm and comfortable (Mapawatt Note: This claim is especially outrageous)
  • Create your own power faster, easier, and cheaper than you ever thought possible

Power4Home will try and sell you plans to make all of the above a reality for your home.  Power4Home may not be a true scam, because some of the information they provide may be legit, but Power4Home greatly exaggerates the amount of power you will be able to produce with your home made solar and wind turbine systems.  In fact, we've covered it before on our post on Renewable Energy scams over 3 years ago where we stated:

One of the Mapawatt team members sent a link for Power 4 Home.  I won’t say this is a 100% scam, but I will say they provide some misleading information.  It looks like it is the exact same people behind a company mentioned above and something I’ve written about in the past, Earth 4 Energy (they aren’t that original when coming up with different names).

One thing they say on their site is: “if you generate more energy than you use, the electricity company will pay you!”. Which isn’t true! Usually, the utility will just reduce your bill by the amount of energy you produce, but if you zero out they will not pay you any more! It is information like this that makes me add them to this list.

I haven't actually seen these plans, but I'm very familiar with the process since I've been covering these clean energy scams for over 3 years (see our posts on Magniwork, Hojo Motor, Earth4Energy).  The plans you receive may indeed have some good information, but the results they promise are ridiculous.  There are many false promises in these plans and I'm sure they leave out a lot of information, like the fact that your home made solar panels won't have UL certification that you will need to receive the 30% Federal tax credit for clean energy systems.

I took the screen shot below on November 11,  2009 from Clickbank's website.  Clickbank is an affiliate marketing site and energy scams do very well using the affiliate approach.  People can sign up to sell these energy plans and get a cut of the profit.  You can see that even back then, Power4Home was very popular:

Unfortunately there are no magic bullets to energy conservation and clean energy production.  If you want to put a solar system on your home, contact a local solar installer.  In fact, talk to multiple installers.  Get some quotes and educate yourself.  These people are the experts and have the right licenses.  Messing around with electricity is dangerous and can be deadly.  Building a solar power system that makes your home off-grid is complicated and expensive.  You need a large enough solar array and many batteries to store all that energy.  To claim that you can remove your home completely from the grid (they did claim 100% immunity from power outages) would cost way more than a few hundred bucks. Don't let some joker on the internet try and tell you otherwise.  If it sounds to good to be true....

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Comments

The Power4Home presentation is the same snake oil con that has snared people of marginal intelligence for hundreds if not thousands of years. It really is fascinating how many different ways this con can manifest.
Just to let you know, some states have laws that DO make it mandatory for a power company to pay you, if you end up sending juice back into the grid (aka "producing more energy than you use").
Yes, you're right about power4home.Your explained very well about power4home and systm.ripoff this.
A review is supposed to be by someone that actually tested the product. Anyone can guess all day long at what is inside. You may have some good points but you are also wrong on some as well. Read up on what Net Metering is for example. Also, the kit is just under $50 not $200. I'm not saying it is or isn't a scam but if you're going to review something actually test it. People don't buy Car and Driver because they stand in front of a dealership and speculate about the qualities of a car they never sat in.
ckmapawatt's picture
You can review a website and call their b.s. without testing the product. If a website is claiming to sell you spaceship plans for $50 couldnt you review that product without actually testing the plans by describing why you can't build a spaceship for $50? We know what net metering is. Car and Driver would most certainly call b.s. if someone offered to sell you a car that would go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds for $100. They wouldn't be dumb enough to spend $100 on it....
This Better Business Bureau report from Minnesota (where the company claims to be located) is quite telling: http://www.minnesota.bbb.org/article/complaints-against-power4home-pro-trip-bbb-sensors-33742
I have to agree with Jason about the 'review'. I certainly do not believe the Power4Home is legit but, it would be nice if someone of merit show the contents and tell me the errors system. Even better, buy the kit, review it, and then return it with in the 60 days. Shouldn't take nearly that long to discredit it. Hell, I'd be willing to chip in and buy the kit if anyone from mapawatt wants to really review the system.
ckmapawatt's picture
Damon, If you buy the plans and send the plans to info@mapawatt.com I will gladly review them for you. We've been doing this for awhile though, and I can assure you it will be a waste of both of our times. Remember, most of our criticism had to do with their claims; which are outrageous no matter what their product is.
I just don't understand why legitimate sites like Fox News, Glenn Beck, and the ohters listed in there "as seen" section allow this company to advertise their products. As soon as I saw the add, I knew it was a scam, too good to be true, but was amazaed to see it avertised on a legitimate news site (even if you don't agree with its political views, it is still legitimate). By accepting these ads, and allowing htem to use their logo and "as seen on" as part of their site, they add more legitimacy to this product. While I would have no issue with them marketing solar panal or wind turbine plans, and believe they may actually produce some electricity, the claims being made are obviously unsupported. If cheep energy was available, wouldn't you rais money to start your own company to generate electricity, based on these plans. Why isn't this company starting a wind and solar farm with this "discovery" and undercutting existing energy sellers? The claims in the ads and on the web site are absurd, and ads for sites like this should be pulled asap, by the sites that host them, and these same sites should go after tehm for the impropper use of their web site. "As seen on" Fox News, should mean a story, not an advert on theri site. Hell, I can run ads for turning wood into gold on the fox news website, it doesn't mean they believe it to be true. It is interesting that the adds and presentation seem to go after a certain audience. I guess they believe this group more gullible than others.
I agree whole heartedly! It is amazing that this is still in existence and not shut down. It should be easy to prove and, from the reviews I've read it seems like the don't even send out any information at all, let alone, what they are claiming. Just "not getting what you ordered" is grounds for false advertising charges and with all the disclaimers we see on ads these days it is a wonder why the governing agencies haven't cracked down on this sort of thing. I do have a question for anyone on solar power. I have seen many programs and articles talking about making solar panels that do not have to be on a silicon wafer, making them far cheaper to produce. I am not talking about solar panel paint (which is said to be not far away) but just panels made using another medium other than silicon. Does anyone know of someone marketing this technology?

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