coming up on this week's news the trade is launching a major campaign to tackle DIY electrics  after a three-year-old boy dies in a fire BT axes its plans to turn roadside cabinets into  EV chargers and electrical contractors prepare to head to Westminster to demand action on tool theft  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 really is worth staying until until the  end of the show to find out last week's winner it's taken 134 episodes for this thing to happen  but it finally did I'm disproportionately excited about it the trade is launching a  major Crusade against do-it-yourself wiring this week after a three-year-old boy died in a fire  the NICEIC's don't do DIY electrics campaign comes hot on the heels of a coroners report in  the death of three-year-old Muhammad Esmael and his father Naemat Lawa Esmael the pair died in  The Blaze at their Swansea home in July of last year coroner Kirsten Heaven has now ruled that  the cause of the fire was probably electrical in origin she said there was evidence that someone  had carried out unauthorised electrical works that fell below the standards of a competent  electrician some of these had been carried out by Naemat Esmael Swansea council did not know about  the electrical works and so had not authorised them investigators found an extension lead had  been wired into a socket in the room where the fire started the NICEIC says a YouGov survey  ran found that almost one in three UK adults has attempted DIY electrical work industry  observers are blaming the upsurge on the cost of living crisis the marketing and information  blitz will highlight the invisible dangers of unsafe electrical work it's being rolled out  across social media channels YouTube and Facebook this week also lending their weight to The Wider  awareness operation is octopus EDF Eon and British gas the organisations have teamed up to spread a  Stark message to householders stop using extension leads they point out that larger appliances can  be fire threats when used with power strips specifically the group says items that should  never be powered via a lead include air fryers microwaves toasters fridges and heaters it also  warns of the dangers of daisy chaining extension leads into other extension leads which can lead to  Rapid overheating one way to avoid overheating cables is to take our free training package on  design we recently released the second part of this series made in association with the Luceco  Group so now you can design a circuit from start to finish and it seems there might be an urgent  need for our viewers to complete that course as last week's question of the week was taken from it  and the results are troubling the question related to Vault drop and asked to convert milivolts to  vaults you need to and the correct answer was to divide by a thousand however on YouTube only  26% of respondents got it right meanwhile over on LinkedIn for the third week in a row they beat the  competition and 59% of respondents nailed it still some room for improvement though so why not click  the link in the show notes and complete that free training module you won't regret it in other news  BT has announced that it's scrapping its ambitious plan to turn redundant telecomms cabinets at the  side of the road into EV Chargers and it revealed that out of 4,800 units which it's identified as  candidates for conversion last year only one has been completed the company's sole plug-in  point is a repurposed telecom's cabinet in East Lothian in Scotland and it will now be shut down  the metal containers are traditionally used for broadband and phone cabling but many have fallen  out of use due to changing technology the BT plan which was run by a digital startup unit called Etc  would have worked around one of the key problems for charger companies installing new connections  to the electricity Network a BT spokesperson told the Guardian newspaper that the project  allowed the company to explore the challenges that many on Street EV drivers are facing with charging  it said it would now look at where it could add most value to the UK EV ecosystem its next idea  is to use the cabinets instead to provide Wi-Fi connectivity we'll keep you posted on progress  BT may have given up but one enterprising firm faced a particularly perplexing power problem  and were able to solve it by smuggling an EV charger into post office infrastructure Northern  Irish plug-in Point installer Powered EVNI has managed to conceal a charger inside a post box  from the Pony Express to adding horsepower to your vehicle the mail always gets through  doesn't it the slim EOD unit from Ohme is hidden inside the traditional red metal box featuring The  Royal Crown the client is said to be delighted with the discreet solution thanks very much to  installer Neil McGavock at Powered EVNI for the heads up on that story if you've carried out an  unusual installation and you'd like a shout out on the news get in touch just email me directly  at joe@efixx.co.uk the demand for chargers doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon in fact  the UK saw record electric vehicle sales in 2024 and it's now overtaken Germany to become  Europe's biggest Market that's partly because EV brands doled out big discounts to motorists in a  bid to hit government targets sales of EVS are now 19.6% of all sales still short of the government's  Target of 22% by contrast Norway looks like it will be the first country in the world to go  all electric in sales thanks to incentives there nine out of 10 new cars are already Electric in  fact Torben Aune the Norwegian entrepreneur behind the Innovative Enua EV charger revealed to us last  week that Norway are pretty much leading the way in all things electrification he joined friend of  the show Nick Tucker off of EV tower along with Gordon Gary and Joe 3PO on last week's eFIXX TV  live stream to talk about his charger and also debate Norwegian versus UK electrical installation  methods it was a brilliant show and well worth a catch up you'll find the link in the show notes  meanwhile back here in Blighty Anger over the theft of power tools is rising and it looks set  to get political that's because contractors fed up with losing their kit are taking their grievance  to Parliament a group of installers called Trades United is set to hold a rally in Westminster this  coming Monday the 3rd of February it follows the success of last year's inaugural event  participants will stage a go slow van Convoy in Westminster driving through the area for 2  hours to raise awareness organisers say they want to draw the attention of MPs to the continuing  problem of tool theft and the resale of stolen goods they're demanding stricter enforcement of  existing theft laws particularly concerning tools they want a ban on the sale of power tools at car  boot sales in similar markets group founder Shoaib Awan says getting a crime reference number for a  van breakin is no longer acceptable he says he doesn't want policies that don't work but  instead the trade needs strict enforcement and a Crackdown operation with immediate effect the  rally starts at Brent Cross in North London at 11:00 a.m. and then heads to Parliament Square  for a gathering there at midday I've popped a link to the group's Instagram account in the show notes  in product news this week we've been hearing the backstory to the Innovative speed cutter  if you're not familiar with it it's a hole cutter that includes an integral fire collar featuring an  Intumescent lining after using the hole cutter to drill through the plaster board using the  drill attachment the cutter remains in the hole to maintain the Fire Protection in the event of  a fire the in material will expand and close off the hole so there's no need for intumescent mastic  to be applied after you run the cables through inventor Marc Katz came up with the idea while  site manager with a national house Builder Mark noticed repeat problems with the fire stopping  after penetrations for Electrical Plumbing and other services the M&E folks were either  drilling the holes too big which means more intumescent material or too small which means  you can't apply the intumescent material without enlarging the hole and damaging the plaster board  the speed cutter has classification for EI30 this means it can be used in in any 30-minute firewall  if it has a 70 mil stud and a layer of 12.5 mm board on each side another Innovation helping  the trade remain compliant and fast is Wieland's RST round connector as they Plug and Play they're  super fast to install there are six Pole to seven pole connector versions and they're available as  barrier seal models this prevents the spread of moisture through the cable system and means that  they can be used in messy conditions you can also get them in high IP ratings Gordon used  them recently to speed up what would have been a full day's work into a job lasting just 50  minutes don't believe him take a look at a video he's produced all about the RTS's capabilities  the link as always is in the show notes lighting manufacturer Trilux has unveiled a moisture proof  Luminaire whose diffuser and housing is made from 100% recycled plastic it's aimed at green-minded  clients the diffuser is made of post-industrial polycarbonate mainly car headlights and computer  monitor covers the housing is manufactured from recycled shredded water bottles the company says  there's a growing demand for products with an environmental backstory like this the latest  JIB handbook is now available the 2025 Edition is the definitive guide to employment matters  for jib members and their operatives it contains information on the national working rules grading  definitions industry training schemes the jib benefit scheme and advice on employment law and  practice you can download a PDF from the jib website again I popped a link to that in the  show notes thanks to our good friend and regular contributor Sergio from Costa Del Watford for the  heads up on that one and finally an update on the crime That Shook Skipton and environs last  week we revealed that criminality had arrived in Sleepy Skipton the Yorkshire home of eFIXX a  customer in our local fish and chipper decided to help herself to a distinctive light fitting but a  security camera caught her in the act within hours of showing the security video in last  week's news that light mysteriously reappeared in the restaurant it appears that Common Sense  has prevailed or maybe she's found Cod either way police say there will be no further action  they clearly have bigger fish to fry and finally 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  send us pictures of your installs or let us know if you've come across any new kit that's making  your job easier and 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 people who've created the Swiss army knife of solar  inverters along with all weather batteries very much the Boy Scouts of the solar industry it's  Sunsynk and speaking of solar with manufacturing powered by a 250 GW solar PV they're literally  the greenest test instrument maker in Europe both physically and ethically it's KPS are you a bit  of a control freak motor control that is if so with huge stocks and excellent service check out  Crompton Controls as they said to me in a recent conversation if we don't have it then we can build  it and 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 click the links in the show  notes to find out more about these great Brands big thanks to you all we 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 winner of last  week's challenge word competition last week's words were exfoliate and egregious and finally  after 134 shows shows where I've wrestled with my conscience and resisted influence the genuinely  random outcome of selecting a winner it's happened we've had our very first randomly selected winner  from LinkedIn it gives me great pleasure to tell you that this week's winner is Stuart Wilson  excellent work Stuart you've made a middle-aged man very happy click the link in the show notes  to claim your prize and to anyone watching on LinkedIn please do get your guesses into the  comments of this video they all go into the prize draw for next week thanks for listening to this  episode of electrical news weekly in association with solar trade sales your easy OneStop 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