Coming up on this week's news, Google is pulling the plug on its support for smart home kit, including the popular Nest thermostats. Electricians are warning their customers that if smoke alarms are out of date, insurance firms won't pay up. And the trade digests the news that changes on the cards for the UK's voltage. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly. Whether you're listening in the van, on site, or down at the wholesale counter, I'm Joe Routledge, and I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. The recording studio is being powered by our friends over at Consumer Unit World with high stock levels of your favourite consumer units including BG and free next working day delivery on orders over £150. Google has pulled the plug on key smart home products including the popular Nest thermostat. The company announced that it has ended support for generation 1 and two of the device. The thermostats have been quietly unpaired and now no longer work with the Google Nest or Google Home apps. Your customers won't be able to check their status or remotely control their devices and they won't receive any notifications. Software and security updates have also seized. Instead, Google has emailed homeowners with a 50% discount offer on thermostats with rival Tado. The company is also ending production of the Nest Protect intelligent smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm. Users fear that it too will go the way of the thermostats. The self-learning Nest thermostat was hailed as a product of the future when it was launched in 2011. It was quickly bought by early adopters and then unusually for smart home devices found an audience with the wider public thanks to its simplicity. The thermostat known for its distinctive round orange glow was hailed with making smart home products desirable. But now it's no different to a manual stat. eFIXX technology editor Gordon Routledge, a big user of Nest Kit, says his house has just gone dumb. Hmm I know those thermostats quite well actually. He says the removal of support is a warning sign to installers as more and more everyday appliances become smart. And it's easy to imagine the future where EV chargers, solar inverters, and battery storage systems lose their connection to the cloud. This could make warranty support, scheduling, and monitoring impossible. It could also force customers to replace expensive hardware simply to stay connected. Gordon says electrical contractors should make their customers aware of the risks of obsolescence with smart home kit. I've put a link to his blog post in the show notes. The acting of the Nest Protect comes as the trade is warned that insurance companies may not pay out if their customers smoke alarms are not regularly tested or are out of date. Insurance comparison company Go Compare says that not enough policy holders are testing their smoke alarms regularly. This puts them at risk of invalidating their home insurance in the event of a fire. The company says that there were over 13,000 house fires attended last year by the fire brigade where an alarm was even not present or didn't operate. Go compares Nathan Blackler says insurers are unlikely to pay out if the smoke alarm isn't working when a fire occurs. Electricians are also being warned to tell their customers about the 10-year rule. This is a standard time limit for the reliable performance of fire alarms. It's backed by manufacturers industry guidance and British standard 5839-6. The reason is that all fire sensors, no matter their technology, degrade over time. The warning chimes with an EIX survey of 50 homes that we conducted in 2025. We found that 30 properties had at least one alarm that was out of date. In a third of sites, we discovered alarms that were over 15 years old. Some were in the home of electricians. That's enough to make anyone blubber. And six homes had no detectors whatsoever. Yet, householders pay annually for fire insurance, not to realising that any claim is liable to be heavily disputed by their insurer. Just three out of the 50 properties had what we would call fully compliant coverage. Joe 3-Po has done a deep dive into what he's calling the ugly truth about smoke alarms. Is it all right if we have a look at yours? No. I've put a link to the video in the show notes. Meanwhile, the trade has been digesting the news that the UK's mains voltage is set to change. Network chiefs are proposing to cut the lower legal limit to 207 volts so they can reduce the average voltage by 5 volts. This would alleviate the problem of EV chargers going offline and allow more renewables to connect to the grid. But electricians have reacted with skepticism to the news. Many supported comments that the lower voltage will not result in lower electricity bills. Some worried that older electrical and electronic equipment such as lifts, fire pumps, and home appliances would fail to operate correctly, but others were experiencing periodic high voltages of over 250 volts and wanted something done. A number of commenters said the drop would lead to a rise in current with implications to cable sizing, thermal performance, and efficiency. Major trade bodies including the NIC and the ECA are yet to comment on the controversial proposals. eFIXX will of course keep you posted on this developing story and will share details in the consultation when we get them. In other news, a training course for electricians who want to upgrade from domestic solar to commercial installations has been unveiled. provider GTEC says the two-day in-person program is the first of its kind. It will teach you how to plan, deliver, and manage commercial solar installations. The topics include project planning, design and array layout, solar software modelling, and health and safety for large roofs. There's also classes on monitoring and maintenance, hands-on props, including modules, inverters, and roof mounting kits. To attend, you must hold a level three and a relevant electrotechnical qualification. The course is endorsed by LCL awards and costs £595. The links in the show notes. The studio is being lit this week by Flex 7 with their lightning fast pre-wired modular lighting connection systems that keeps your installation times razor sharp. This week though, we're turning the spotlight not on products but on wholesalers, specifically some standout members of the Aweber buying group. The purchasing power of this consortium helps keep trade counter prices down for electricians and that's something worth celebrating. Leading brand 7 core electrical was founded by former national wholesale execs who wanted to create something different. Seven cores David Pasley describes the company as built on handshakes conversation and trust. The company has grown into a respected independent electrical wholesaler with six branches across the Midlands. These are Lincoln, Sleaford, St. Neots Melton Mobrey worksop and Skegness trade counter teams receive ongoing training on innovations regulations and professional development ensuring they give trusted advice and real solutions. The company has recently expanded warehouse capacity at Lincoln Sleaford and Worksop to ensure customers get the right products when they need them. They're often delivered on the same day. Seven Core also takes pride in its community ties supporting local charities St. Barnabas's Hospice, the Children's Bereavement Centre, and Pinpoint Charity. Another leading member of AWAB is the EW Group, which has a specialist line in the 110 volt temporary power supplies. In fact, the firm has been trusted to keep the lights on at music festivals and events, including Glastonbury and the Cheltenham Festival. It has the largest and most comprehensive range of site temp kit in the UK. EW can even make LED lighting customised for a specific building site. All its pre-wired products are assembled in the UK and delivered to site the following day by EW's own transport with the minimum of packaging. Although its branches are in London and Bristol, EW covers the whole country. Beyond the site temp range, it also boasts 10,000 products from top electrical brands including Lewden Palazzoli, Flex 7, Schneider, and Legrand. The delivery for stock items is either same day or next day as standard. Last but not least is Evergy, a one-stop distributor of renewables. It has no less than 1.4 million pounds worth of kit on its shelves. And unusually in this sector, it's been supplying equipment for over 15 years. Solar and inverter bands include Solar Edge and EZDC. Big battery brands stocked are Sunsynk, Solax, Fox, and MyEnergi. The EV charger suppliers include OMI, MiEnergi Rolec, Andersen, Easee, and Hypervolt. There's next day delivery, expert support, click and collect, and free delivery on orders over £50. Now, it's that great moment where we get to celebrate the sterling work being done by the next generation. Our learner of the week slot is brought to you by Eltako , German manufacturer of premium actuators, sensors, and energy meters for smart homes. And our learner this week is Liam Barnes. Lecturer Ben Chapman says Liam has made an exceptional start to the level two program at Yeoville College. He has demonstrated remarkable commitment, enthusiasm, and initiative in every aspect of his learning. Liam has even set up a personal practice rig in his garage to practice and refine his installation techniques. He has also created his own eFIXX academy profile and has built up his CPDs during weekends and evenings. Great work, Liam. Really impressive and we look forward to you making your mark in the trade in the coming years. Now, if you're looking to break into the industry, we can help. eFIXX has set up a dedicated LinkedIn group for people training in electrical installation. It's aimed at apprentices, full-time learners, and adults training in the evening. Just log on to LinkedIn and search for UK electrician apprenticeships and career support. And now to the lighter side of the electrical news. Yes, it's time for a tea break with Quickwire and its range of incredibly rapid electrical connectors. An electrician with cash flow problems has just won million pounds worth of prizes in a competition. When things got tight financially in the contracting business, Jake Emory of Blackpool turned to God for help. His company was struggling to pay its sparks on a Friday, so Emory went to church for the first time in 20 years. He believes that divine intervention helped him land the big money prize of luxury cars, goods, and holidays. He took the cash option of 750 grand and then generously split the cash with business partner and best pal, Michael Bunich. The Lord certainly moves in mysterious ways. What a happy ending. Now he's pricing up a gold plated Chihuahua bowl. That's the lighter side of the news in our tea break with Quickwire and their range of incredibly rapid electrical connectors. Click the link in the description to check them out for yourself. Regular viewers might have noticed that Joe Robinson's missing this week. He's off enjoying a bit of autumn sun in the caravan. Don't worry though, he'll be back next week, fully refreshed and no doubt giving that awning a good airing. If you think you know the words I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments. We'll take all the correct answers and pick one at random to win an EIX goodie bag. Last week's challenge words were confligration and compartmentalisation. And after drawing a name from our electronic hat, congratulations to Jack Plant 9232. Nicely done. Now, a quick shout out to our premium partners. We couldn't make the news without you. First up for all your circuit protection needs. They're like having an Italian Star Striker in your premiership team is Lewden Palazzoli. with their new award-winning Lumo consumer unit and offering complete product support from their highly trained team is CPN Cudis. And with over 5,000 product lines from heating, lighting, ventilation, and wiring accessories, if you need it, they've got it. It's electrical distributor CED Group. And the best thing to come out of York in stainless steel, the home of PV Ultra and other groundbreaking quality products is Doncaster Cables. And one of our favourite new innovations here at eFIXX, don't fix it when you can chump fix it. Click the links in the show notes to find out more about these great brands. That's it for this week's Electrical News Weekly. Do you have a story we should cover, a project you're proud of, or a great product other viewers should know about? Let us know in the comments or through the eFIXX website. Don't forget to subscribe for the next update. And remember, there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm.