coming up on this week's news some of the biggest brands in the electrical trade are slapped with  huge fines for price fixing we revealed the installed electrical kit most loved by  homeowners and missing British electrician Kris Finny is found safe and well in Tenerife welcome  to electrical news weekly in association with solar trade sales your easy One-Stop shop for all  things solar make sure you click the link in the show notes to access their online store 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 this week's challenge  word competition is supported by the good people at Brady if you need a label they've got a printer  and so much more if you think you've spotted the two words I've been challenged to slip into this  week's show comment with them below for the chance to win a prize and while you're there  click the link to check out the Brady range of printers and this week only stay tuned to  the end of the show for a special report from Joe Hammond on the winners of this year's eFIXX Awards  some of the biggest brands in the trade have been slapped with fines totalling 391 million pounds  for price fixing the French competition Authority says Schneider Electrical Rexel and sonepar had  deals to set the resale prices of their products to electricians the alleged practice took place  in France and involved Schneider Electric as a manufacturer and Rexel and Sonepar as wholesalers  between December 2012 and September 2018 for Legrand and Rexel the alleged offences took place  from May 2012 to September 2015 officials find Schneider 172 million Rexel £103 million Sonepar  £80 million and Legrand £35 million however Rexel said the pricing Arrangements were normal  in the trade a standard commercial discount on the purchase price was provided to wholesalers Legrand  said that the practice enables Distributors to buy at more convenient prices and consequently set  lower resale prices for installers to the benefit of end customers for their part Schneider Rexel  and Legrand said they disagreed with the ruling and reserved the right to appeal the penalties in  statement Sonepar said that it believes that it acted in the interest of its customers and  in strict compliance with competition rules the company said it would take its case to the court  of appeal the ruling was the culmination of a disastrous week for Schneider Electric in the  days following the Judgment the company's computer system was targeted by ransomware  hackers who claim to have stolen a huge amount of its documents it appears unrelated to the price  fixing case the criminal gang called Hellcat is threatening to leak the sensitive information  unless it is paid £100,000 worth of baguettes Yes you heard that right in a bizarre Ransom demand  the hackers are insisting on sticks of French bread maybe they've got a surplus of langoustines  to consume or something but the breach is being taken very seriously at the company's HQ in  Paris Schneider says it's investigating a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access  and that its Global incident response team has been immediately mobilised and finally company  Chief Peter Herweck has been ousted in a boardroom row over company strategy he's been replaced by  Olivier Blum the Frenchman faces a heck of an in-tray we wish him well miss Blum could always  cheer himself up by entering a competition to win with BG installers who buy a product from the BG  circuit protection range will get entered into a draw whose top prize is a European city break the  other prizes aren't too shabby either they include a Porsche Driving Experience an annual pass for  Merlin theme parks and attractions and a smart TV to enter buy a product from the range accessories  are not included upload your receipt or invoice to the special BG website and that's it I've popped  a link to the competition website in the show notes the promotion ends on Tuesday the 10th of  December all the best everyone in other news the national home energy survey for 2024 has just been  published the poll by the Eco expert survey satisfaction levels with electrical products  its results show that the installed technology most popular with homeowners by some distance is  solar panels nine out of 10 customers said that they were either satisfied or very satisfied the  reasons given for the big thumbs up is the Energy savings the payback time and the fact  that it starts saving from day one it's estimated that the average three-bedroom house will enjoy  a 50% reduction in energy bills from the first day having operating solar panels customers also  love using the app which shows them the dynamic pricing in real time despite the high satisfaction  levels there are reports that the government is considering making the inclusion of PV in  new homes optional ministers are working on new regulations for construction known as the Future  Homes Standard Environmental campaigners hope that it would force house builders to install the  panels they argue it would be much cheaper to add them at build stage however insiders say it looks  like the rules will merely encourage Builders to add them where it's appropriate if that's the case  it'll be seen as good news for the house building Lobby if you'd like to get ahead of the game and  start vibing with solar PV installations check out the free training package out very own Joe  Hammond created on the subject with the support of ENW sponsors Sunsynk you'll find a link to that in  the show notes there's some very good news for the electrical Community also this week with the  announcement that missing Lancashire electrician Kris Finny has been found in Tenerife 4 days  after he went missing the 31-year-old Edenfield contractor was found by a shopkeeper who took  him in apparently finny had been wandering the island after he was left with no money and no  working phone he was due to meet friends but they were staying in separate Apartments his  family told the BBC that they were hugely relieved and had been sick with worry the unexpected turns  like this that life takes are the subject of a warning this week to Young electricians one of  the trade's leading Financial experts is alerting them to the fact that they're taking big risks if  their income isn't protected speaking on an eFIXX live stream Gary Morrissey of Access Financial  Services says that installers starting out in the business need to consider what would happen  in the event of an Accident Injury or illness he says they may have just bought their own home or  be renting for the first time they're paying all the bills and everything's going well but then  suddenly they can't work their income comes to a halt but the bills still need to be paid Morrissey  says most electricians who are employed are often surprised to discover how little sick pay they're  entitled to both from the government and their employers too he says that they need an income  protection insurance policy in place to restore their income if the worst comes to the worst it's  too late to do anything about it Morrissey says that for an electrician on £4,000 a month the  most common policies will let you claim 65% of your gross salary usually for two years such a  policy should cost between £15 and £20 a month for young electricians and the premium should stay the  same for the duration of the policy he says many Sparks are often surprised at how cost- effective  it is if you have dependent such as a partner or children you could also consider critical illness  cover unlike income protection which pays out monthly critical illness cover pays a lump sum  it's designed for things like a cancer diagnosis but premiums are typically twice as much as income  protection finally Morrissey says electricians should also consider life insurance to protect  their family should the worst happen although I don't remember those being the lyrics to Charming  Man anyway uh I've popped the link to the Access Financial Services web page in the show notes it  really is worth checking out and thinking about as an urgent priority costs less than you think and  could really benefit you in the future so click that link and protect you and your loved ones and  speaking of what can go wrong in an emergency last week's question of the week was taken from our  free training package from Robus where we explain how to make sure your lighting will go right in an  emergency the question was which type of emergency light fitting is connected to the battery in a  separate light fitting the correct answer is a satellite fitting and it seems there's a bit of  an improvement to be made here on YouTube only 66% of our viewers got it right Twitter trailed  a little at 60% while over on LinkedIn yes you may well hang your heads in shame only 43% got  it right well nobody's perfect whatever platform you're on click the link in the show notes to take  that free training package from Robus we walk you through everything you need to know to keep your  installation and maintenance processes compliant you know where the link is in product news this  week it's been announced that Greenbrook is taking over the MK Sentry consumer unit  from CircPro Greenbrook is now handling the sales distribution and technical support for the popular  dis-board The Firm says it will complement its power breaker range of Kit and what does every  great dis-board need great labels of course and that's where challenge word sponsors Brady come in  with the M211 a revolutionary entry-level portable printer designed for job site efficiency paired  with the industry-leading express labels app the M211 lets users design preview and print pre-sized  labels directly from their phones this simple intuitive devices Built Tough with standing drops  shocks and crushes while running all day on a full charge key features include seamless Bluetooth 5.0  connectivity easy data integration from existing spreadsheets and led indicators for battery life  connectivity and label status it will help you to save time and streamline your workflow by creating  saving and sharing complex label designs with colleagues effortlessly it even has an option  to dictate text onto blank or wrap labels which gives a faster more efficient way to label and  best of all it's currently available at a reduced rate of only £15 you'll find the deal at the link  in the show notes however if like Gary the thought of using an app for anything makes your blood run  cold then check out its sister product the M210 more on that in a couple of weeks meanwhile up in  Lineside studios we've been getting to grips with Klauke's latest crimp tool the micro EK50 SDML  also works as both an automatic wire cutter and stripper it can handle everything from standard  PVC to high voltage cables as usual with cool new tools Gordon elbowed his way to the front  to intercept the postman and he's had a bit of a play around with it the link to the video is it  in the show notes if you like what you see we've managed to get a 5% discount code especially for  eFIXX viewers again details of how to claim that are in the show notes now the winners of this  year's eFIXX awards were announced last week and here with a special report is Joe Hammond thanks  Joe so from an incredible pool of finalists it was a really tough task for our judges to choose our  eFIXX 2024 award Award winners but choose them they did so here's a recap of our winners of  the 2024 eFIXX Awards EV installer of the year in association with Sync energy EV Heroes wholesaler  of the year in association with Forum lighting solutions yesss electrical Birkenhead residential  installer of the year in association with Lewden Palazzoli Lukeman electrical smart home installer  of the year in association with NexBlue airwave AV Renewables installer of the year in association  with solar trade sales electrical Innovations lighting installer of the year in association  with Kosnic powercor fire data and security installer of the year in association with Hispec  KHG security marketing of the year in association with hager KHG security commercial and Industrial  installer of the year in association with CPN Cusid A10 Electrical Solutions Heating and  ventilation installer of the year in association with Envirovent Irlam UK training provider of the  year in association with Docs-Store Humberside engineering training association College of  the year in association with Metrel South and City College Birmingham lecturer of the year in  association with Scame Paul Gale person of the year in association with Wago Ruth Devine MBE  a huge thank you to all of our sponsors and our judges and congratulations to all of our winners  of this year's eFIXX 2024 Awards thanks for that Joe and thanks to all the judges for your valuable  input and well done to everyone who entered made the short list or won this year if you just missed  out then look out for when we open the entries to next year's Awards and our usual reminder now that  we're in the market for your store stories your projects and your recommendations as we'd like to  share them with the wider eFIXX Community during November we're looking at commercial EV charging  testing equipment and Innovations within the electrical industry send us pictures of your  installs 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 it's  the people who created the Swiss army knife of solar inverters along with all weather batteries  very much the Scouts of the solar industry it's Sunsynk 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 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  that 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  won 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 as sponsored by Brady remember if you need a label they've  got a printer and so much more click the link in the description to view their incredible range  last week's words were ack and mischievous and the first name to come out of our electronic hat was  Martin E63 so well done to you Martin if I may call you Martin without the E63 part 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  remember to click the link in the show notes to check out their online shop 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