My good friend's son is a licensed electrician. I asked him if I saved on my power consumption by using a dimmer? His reply was that: No, the dimmer is a heat sink and absorbs the power, you still use the same.
I installed several dimmers when I built this house. Two of the lights are big Chandlers with up to 15 bulbs. I used just a normal dimmer switch, wired it myself and not had a problem. Haven't checked for heat, but this may be normal?
Reading:
http://www.smarthome.com/solution41.html