Vphase

VPhase has been one of the best share price performers of the last year, on the back of a product it claims can reduce households electricity bills by around 10%.

The VX1 device maintains the electricity that comes into a house, which can vary in the UK and Europe between 207-253 volts, at a steady 220 volts, meaning households don’t pay for the extra volts that otherwise are wasted on most appliances. VPhase’s pending patent rests on the unique small size of the device, which is, put simply, a smaller and cheaper version of existing autotransformer technology.

Having produced its first commercial product, VPhase is in commercial talks with utilities and fusebox manufacturers. Around 1.4m fuseboxes are installed in the UK alone per year and with a VX1 expected to retail for between £100 and £150, saving the average household £50 a month, the money saving fusebox should prove popular. Furthermore, utilites are obliged by the government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme to subsidise carbon reduction subsidies.

However, before either route to market can be taken, the CERT qualification and more importantly the EU regulatory mark has to be gained – processes finance director Rick Smith says will be ‘relatively quick’.

With £3.7m cash in the bank, VPhase is scaling up for volume production and will launch VX1 in October. Smith says margins will be around 50% but the selling price has not yet been fixed.

Shares in VPhase have been positively charged since its reversal into failed AIM shell Flightstore last September, on the back of investor optimism about the worldwide potential for the device. Specualtive buy.