- Coming up on this week's news, it's been revealed that a high profile London borough hasn't done any electrical safety checks on its homes in six years, electric car giant Tesla is reported to police for conducting illegal electrical installation work, and the Christmas lights go on in Sunderland just in time for summer. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Whether you're listening in the van, on site, or down at the wholesale counter, I'm Joe Robinson and I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. And if you think you've spotted the two words that I've been challenged to slip into this week's show, comment with them below for the chance to win a prize. It's been revealed that a high profile London borough hasn't done any EICR electrical safety checks on its homes for six years."Inside Housing" magazine says that Southwark Council stopped conducting the regular tests on its properties in 2018, and was only doing them on an ad hoc basis. Earlier this month, the local authority took the unusual step of reporting itself to the housing watchdog. A spokesperson for Southwark said that the council had carried out electrical safety tests in the past, tied into major works or other repairs in people's homes at the same time. But they conceded that the local authority had not had a clear programme of proactive electrical testing, which is why it referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing. A major programme to carry out EICRs, estimated to cost 15 million pounds, has now started on the vast majority of Southwark's 36,000 council homes. Electrical safety standards require private landlords to have electrical installations in their properties inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every five years. Landlords are obliged to provide a copy of the EICR to their tenants if requested. Regular checks on social housing are recommended as best practise, but are not currently mandatory. Last year, we reported that Harrow Council was found to have breached the previous law known as the Home Standard over its failure to complete electrical safety reports on three and a half thousand homes. In 2022, fellow London authority Greenwich Council breached the Home Standard after an investigation by the regulator found that more than 10,000 of its domestic properties did not have a current EICR. The government recently said it was considering making it compulsory for council homes and has asked the trade for its view. The regulation will now be a matter for the next government to consider. Still in the capital, some 300 vans have taken part in a rally to call for tougher action on the theft and resale of tools. Electrical contractors made up a large contingent in the convoy, which snaked its way around Parliament Square. The protestors, under the banner Trades United, say that in the past six years, more than 45,000 incidents have been reported. They want the government to impose a 10,000 pound fine on organisers of car boot sales and street markets that permit the resale of stolen tools. They say there's little enforcement. Instead, police issued crime reference numbers without a thorough investigation into the crimes or the locations where stolen goods are resold. Separately, electricians are being warned not to leave their portable power tools in a hot van. That's because in sunny weather, internal temperatures can reach over 50 degrees Celsius. This can damage the batteries, cause them to leak, and in extreme heat, ignite or even explode. Motoring expert Lease Van advises that extreme heat can also damage components and increase the risk of short circuits. It suggests removing aerosol items, like WD-40 and pipe freezing sprays, which can blow up in very hot conditions. In other news, new rules on smoke alarms are set to take effect in Northern Ireland this autumn. The new regulations set minimum standards for the type and placement of smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarms in private rented properties. There must be at least one smoke alarm in the room most frequently used for daytime living, and in every hallway or landing on each floor. A heat alarm is required in every kitchen, and a carbon monoxide alarm must be installed in any space with a fixed fuel burning appliance or flue. New tenancies starting September 2024 must comply with the regs. Existing tenancies have until December 2024 to conform. I'll pop the link to the full regs in the show notes. Now, are you a building control specialist? Did you become one through experience rather than via a traditional apprenticeship or college course? If you can answer yes to both those questions, we have good news. You can now get a little encomium for your efforts with an ECS Gold Card under the Experienced Worker Assessment Route. Specialist training firm Group Horizon is about to start assessing skilled controls professionals. Crucially, it will do it to the same nationally recognised standard as those completing a building energy management systems apprenticeship, but without the need for them to return to college. Again, the link to the scheme is in the show notes. Electric car giant Tesla is in hot water this week after being reported to police in Sweden over alleged electrical work. The electrician's union there says that the company carried out charger installations without the necessary registration. To do wiring work in Sweden, you'd need to be registered with the National Electrical Safety Board. There is a setaceous history of bad blood between the union and Elon Musk's flagship firm. The company has faced prolonged industrial action, and its mechanics have been on strikes since October. Tesla has yet to comment on the allegations. In product news this week, myenergi has unveiled three phase power variants of its Zappi Plus EV charger and the Eddi Plus power diverter. The Grimsby based manufacturer says the new versions have been developed to address compliance standards in Continental Europe. The new Zappi charger adds GSM capability, an RFID card reader, and a metre that's compatible with both German and EU measurement specifications. The new Eddi Plus is designed to ensure seamless compatibility with three-phase heating elements. The hefty Ansell Lighting catalogue has landed on my desk, almost spilling my carrot kombucha, apparently. We're fans of the firm here, especially its range of LED tape and accessories. We think they make the specification of LED tape super clear, whereas some big brands prefer to baffle. Also in this mighty tome are the brand's plug and play connectors and its Z LED high efficiency industrial luminaires. Your wholesaler can order you a printed version for door stopping duties. Alternatively, you can download a PDF from the web. I've popped the link in the show notes. Speaking of lighting, last week's question of the week was all about lighting design, and was taken from our free training package on lighting design, made in association with Robus Lighting. It asked the question, "According to the inverse square law, what happens to the illuminance if the height of a fitting is doubled?" The answer is of course that the illumination will be quartered. And we're back to business as usual. On YouTube, a respectable 76% of people got it right, while LinkedIn have done a little backsliding and only 56% of people got it right on that platform. I'd strongly recommend that you check out that free training packages soon as possible to help you with your CPD. The link is in the show notes. And finally still on lighting, the Christmas lights are back on in Sunderland. That's right, just in time for summer. The sun may have arrived in the UK at last, but there's one corner of the kingdom where it's still wintertime. The commercial buildings there are currently lit up with projections of snowmen and snowflakes. There's holly and ivy above the German doner kebab shop, and poinsettia above Poundland. Sunderland City Council says the seasonal silliness is to blame on a month long electrical fault, which has just been rectified by the Northern Powergrid. When the power was restored, the snowman reappeared. Council bosses are telling Mackem, as the locals are known, not to get too attached to the yuletide vibe. They say the fault is being rectified and the projections will be removed as soon as possible. Lastly, a reminder that we're in the market for your stories, your projects, and your recommendations, as we'd like to share them with the wider eFIXX community. In July, we're shifting our focus to data and networking, and fire and security, plus all the new innovations that are coming into the industry. Send us pictures of your instals or let us know if you've come across any new kit that's making your job easier. Now, just before we get to your favourite bit of the show where I reveal last week's challenge words and winners, we want to thank our premium partners. We couldn't make the news without you. First up, they're the brand that pride themselves on keeping people close to what's important, with the world's most recognisable doorbell chime, it's Ring. Up next for all your circuit protection needs, they're like having an Italian star striker in your Premiership team, it's Lewden Palazzoli. And welcome to the first of two brand new sponsors. Do you want a no fuss lighting solution that's packed with value? Then try the EcoLink range from Signify, combining value for money with top end Signify quality. Our second new sponsor is a business that will literally bend over backwards to give you first class service on the trade only supply of signal, reception and distribution, custom instal, home automation and security products for all residential and commercial projects, it's Alltrade. If you want to pump up the jam and join the home heating revolution, then it's got to be heat pumps from Daikin. Are you looking for easy to instal modular lighting solutions and emergency lighting products designed by specialists in the industry? They're ready and waiting to light up your life, it's Kosnic. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, the home of EV Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality products, it's Doncaster Cables. And if you want a lesson on how to reinvent a commodity product into a stylish but discreet feature, then look no further than D-Line trunking. If you want to get your cables organised and tidied away in situation, they've got a solution. With an incredible range of equipment from EV charge points through industrial sockets and switches, to kit for explosive areas, plus they supplied gear for a Campari factory, so they'll always have a place in my heart, it's Scame. Big thanks to you all. We really appreciate your ongoing support for the news. If you think you know the words that I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments. We'll take all the correct guesses and select one at random to be the winner of an eFIXX goodie bag prize. Answers submitted after about lunchtime on the Thursday after release will not be entered into the draw. Now let's reveal the winners of last week's challenge word competition. The words were supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Wensleydale. As you can probably guess from last week's episode, I really didn't see the point in hiding the first word, but the second one clearly proved a little trickier to guess, as there weren't too many who got it right. But someone who did is this week's winner Syelectrical. Well done to you. Make sure you click the link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update. Thanks for listening, and until next time, have a great week. Stay safe out there. And remember, there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm.