Device for reducing the power consumption of appliances

The invention relates to a device (1) for reducing the power consumption of an electrical appliance, which device comprises: - a power connection (4) for connection to mains electricity having at least a first (5) and second (6) terminal; - an appliance connection (3) having at least a first (7) and second (8) terminal; - a first lead (12) connected between the first terminal (5) of the power connection (4) and the first terminal (7) of the appliance connection (3); - a second lead (13) connected between the second terminal (6) of the power connection (4) and the second terminal (8) of the appliance connection (3); - detecting means (14) for detecting a current in one of the first (12) and second (13) leads; - switching means (17) for switching a capacitor (18) between the first lead (12) and the second lead (13) to reduce the reactive load of a connected appliance.