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LEHI — The city of Lehi is on the lookout for a salesman that promises a device that will help protect a person's home from power surges and help improve the homes energy efficiency, all at the same time. In reality, the city says what the device really does is steal power.
Lehi City Power department director Travis Ball said his company was tipped off to the salesman when a resident called concerned that something wasn't right.
The resident explained he bought the device and the salesman installed it on the resident's power meter, and it didn't look professionally done. The resident also noticed his power bill started dropping by half.
"The salesman had told them that this would be a good piece of gear to help their power quality, protect their home from surges, and also lower their power bill," Ball said.
Meter man Tyler Thomas said they then looked at billing records and found another home where the power bill had dropped drastically. Sure enough, that home also had a device installed by the salesman.
"Some of these devices may not even be surge protectors. They just bypass the meter. That's all they do," Thomas said. "Whoever is selling these devices, they know they are not being honest. They are taking people's money and telling them it's a surge protector."
The people who bought the devices paid around $600 and they're now both working with the city to try and track the salesman down.
Ball says Lehi City Power has tried to track down the group selling these devices. But once they made phone contact, the company's website disappeared.
Ball wants to point out there are legitimate companies out there making and selling surge protectors that do protect the entire house. However, he says anything that connects to the power meter must be installed by a member of the power company.
Ball said the salesman broke the law in several ways when he tampered with power meters, which is very dangerous. He also broke the law by deceiving people and by installing a device that steals power.
Lehi City Power said both home owners who purchased the device are being very cooperative. Ball said he doesn't believe the homeowners realized they were buying something that steals power.
Lehi City Power has also alerted surrounding power companies about the salesman and the device he's selling.
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Written by Randall Jeppesen with contributions from Sandra Yi
