Coming up on this week's news, electrical safety experts issue a fresh warning over the perceived dangers of plug-in solar kits. Another charger firm goes to the wall. Just what is going on in the EV world. And another country puts out a plea for electricians. But you've got to like extreme weather. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly in association with Anker Solix, maker of one of the world's most beautiful home storage batteries, the X1. 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 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 this exclusive cap branded with friends of the show, Quickwire and Chump Tools. And while you're there, click the links in the show notes to check out what our sponsors offer. Engineering experts have issued a fresh warning over the perceived dangers of plug-in solar kits. Electrical Safety First says the technology, which is set to hit the UK this summer, could lead to the overheating of circuits in domestic properties. It says that while the risk remains low without wiring regulation changes and under certain conditions, the units can cause overheating or impair the operation of protective devices such as RCDs in the property. The government appears to be responding to concern in the trade. It signaled that the regulations will put safety first. Ministers say the new regulations will cap plug-in solar power at 800 W. Engineers say 800 watts is a sweet spot that allows occupants to generate significant power without risking an overload of cables and switch gear. Electrical safety first technical chief Luke Osborne says he's pleased to see the government intends to address the issues. His organization believes new safety standards should be introduced rapidly to ensure households can safely enjoy the benefits of plug-in solar. The kit is expected to be stocked by retailers including Little and Amazon this summer. The photovoltaic sets will cost around £400 and could save around £100 a year on energy. They're designed to be put in gardens and on balconies. You simply plug them into a standard socket outlet. Last month, energy secretary Ed Milibadn gave the green light to the tech in response to the war in the Middle East. In business news, another EV company has gone to the wall. Commercial EV kit supplier Eo Charging has gone into administration following mounting losses. The 10-year-old company supplied infrastructure to nationwide organisations such as Tesco Supermarkets. Back in 2020, it caused a sensation with the Ultras Slim Mini Pro 2, which was marketed at the time as the world's smallest EV charger. EO's collapse follows hot on the heels of battery storage brand Give Energy. Earlier this month, Give Energy filed notice of its intention to appoint an administrator, signalling the start of the administration process. Previously, IKEA's authorised solar panel installer in the UK, Sully UK Operations, went bust. It left a string of angry customers fearful of losing their deposits. However, observers say there isn't a fundamental flaw in the renewable sector. It's more a case of the market maturing. In fact, demand is continuing to sore. Sales of electric vehicles were up 51% across Europe last month, and the first three months of the year were a third up on this time last year. Norway, as usual, was out in front. Of all new cars sold in the country in March, EVs represented a stoning 98%. Meanwhile, here in the UK, there's a contrastorm over how much VAT should be paid by drivers using public EV chargers. A tax tribunal last month ruled that the VAT should be cut to 5% from 20%. The ruling brings public charging in line with home charging where only 5% is applicable, but the tax man is, you've guessed it, appealing the decision. We'll keep you posted of the outcome. And now, important news for installers who get involved in stripouts. If you're taking out lots of lamps and lights, you could get them all collected for free and they'd be recycled responsibly. Lighting industry body Ricolight says it will arrange collection for large-scale projects. If the luminaires are made by one of its members, it's free. If they're not, they'll still collect them for a fee. I've put a link to the organisation's website in the show notes. Now, last week, we featured the innovative new dual buzz bar from Live Electrical, and it got the industry really excited. So excited, in fact, that many of you commented with the key expression, "Jeff's got your back." From all those entries, 10 were selected at random to win a dual busbar consumer unit with RCBOs for you to have a look at and a crack at installing. The winners were Michael Faroh, a teley skier 7066, Shiam Jad, Mr. P. Gunner, honest reviewer, Mood OG, Taiser 5884, Gonzo the Great, 1675, Luke Mikl 2588, RP3K, and finally Gary Reed-I1R. My sincere apologies if I've mispronounced anyone's username there. If you all click the get involved link in the show notes and fill in your details, we'll pass it along to Live Electrical, who will send out your boards in good order. Make sure you let us know what you think and if you can send us a picture of your installed board or pop it on social media and tag us in, we'd be much grateful. In product news this week, ScrewFix has announced that it is now stocking Hager products. It says it will hold more than 125 of the brand switches and sockets, and they'll also be available with click and collect and Screw Fix Sprint, which delivers to site in as little as 20 minutes. Products include the Solista white molded, decorative, and IP66 outdoor weatherproof socket ranges. We're now a year on from the public charge point regulations. These are the rules that have made EV charging easier for drivers. They heralded in clear pricing, simple payments, and prompt support. Now, all smart operators are increasingly choosing centralised payment systems as standard. That's why ChargeM8 Sigma payment kiosk is doing so well. This contactless paypoint allows electric car drivers to pay for their charge. It has onboard power supply with plug-and-play connections for both power and a 4G connection. And it integrates seamlessly with mainstream terminals like PA, NAX, self-service technology, Neuland, and World Line. It also boasts an anti vandal high gain 4G antenna. Best of all, a single payment terminal can be used for multiple parking bays. For the install, it fits perfectly into an EV cube. This has been engineered to be lightweight and tough. The genius is that it arrives flat packed with each piece weighing under 18 kilos. This makes it easy to handle and quick to assemble. And you don't need any lifting equipment. There's no wet concrete involved. You just dig the trench, pop in the parts, and connect them up in the hole. You then simply back fill and connect the EV charger. ChargeM8 says the EV Kube has been designed so the whole job can be done by just one electrician. It's molded from recyclable composite, and the company says it's more environmentally friendly than concrete. Three sizes are available: 300 by 300, 300 x 600, and 600 by 600. And all in all, it's as sturdy as a triceratops. Knightsbridge has expanded its core metal clad range with a powder coated finish in black. This is the on trend look of the season. The surface is also textured, giving it a tactile quality love by design conscious householders. Matte black metal rockers and coordinated black inserts ensure a consistent and understated look, but you can also put other types of insert in there as well, which I think looks absolutely brilliant. The expanded range builds on the proven performance of the existing metal series. All products are manufactured from SPCC steel and are supplied with back boxes where applicable. Features include twin earth terminals, double pole switching options, neon indicators, and pre fitted fuses. Finally, there's a 25-year warranty on the whole range. That's confidence for you. In lighting news, Integral LED has reimagined that staple of the ceiling, the fire rated down light. Most of them are simply tightly sealed tin cans. With some, you can't even change the light source if it fails. But Integral's one is a lot clever than that. The Evo Fire uses UK patented fire rated glass to stop flames from passing through the ceiling. Combined with powder coated steel and tempered glass, it delivers a premium finish with bezels under 1 millimetre thick. The range is fully third-party certified to 30, 60, and 90minute ratings, including timber and eye ceilings. It's also a sustainable choice. That's because the fitting uses fewer resources to manufacture compared with traditional designs. The 15 kilos of carbon dioxide it takes to make is spread out over a 10-year lifetime and realistically way beyond that. Because it's also future proof, you can easily replace the lamp or a light engine, allowing the fitting to be upgraded without replacing the entire unit. Options include a GU10 or 50 mil module with the Evofire 85 or a GU11 or MR11 lamp with the Evo Fire Mini. In fact, like Hines, there are 57 varieties of product, enough for any application. One that we love is a 110 mil diameter version, which is super useful for covering old or uneven 85 mil cutouts, giving a cleaner finish on refurbishment jobs. The Evo Fire range comes with a seven-year warranty. Still on lighting, it's everyone's favorite part of the show. It's the Paul Russell's lamp of the week. And today, we're celebrating a light source known as a T45. The T stands for tubular, and it's got a diameter of 45 mm. Logical name, isn't it? This one's got a spiral LED filament and smoked glass for that retro finish. It's also got a super warm color temperature of 1,800 Kelvin. It gives out the same light as a 25 watt incandescent, but it draws just 4 watts. It's got a lifetime of 15,000 hours. And a reminder that Schneider has unveiled the 2026 version of its hugely popular score to win promotion. In this exciting new game, installers must beat the keeper from the penalty spot as many times as they can to win points. And what do points mean? Prizes, of course. This year, there are Premier League hospitality tickets up for grabs, as well as signed football shirts. Simply spend a minimum of 250 quid on Schneider Electric products in one transaction at any participating wholesaler. You'll then be given the opportunity to play a virtual game of skill involving kicking a football into a goal. There'll even be a public leaderboard so you can see how your mates are doing. I'll put a link to the terms and conditions in the show notes. 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 Excess Training with their online electrical courses for beginners and experienced Sparks covering inspection and testing, solar battery storage, EV charging, and their specialism NVQs and AM2 online prep. And our learner this week is Alfie Thompson who is currently working out of training for electricians limited. Alfie has built a really strong LinkedIn profile and recently passed his ECS card with an impressive 49 out of 50. He's done his level one electrical course and gained valuable work experience with Beachwood Electrical in his hometown of Lim Cheshire. Alfie took the initiative to document the experience with photos to showcase his journey. On top of that, Alfie is blasting through our free CPD training modules. What really stands out though is a video he created at his training centre explaining why he wants to become an electrician and gives people a real insight into his passion for joining the industry. He's got a driving license and he also comes with the endorsement of friend of the parish Chris Horn. What more do you need? If you think you have an apprenticeship place for Alfie, get in touch with anyone on the EIX team and weldon Alfie on being our learner of the week in association with excess training. 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. If you're in the market for a new job, a vacancy has arisen for a qualified electrician. Your job will be to maintain some world class laboratories and buildings. You'll do PAT testing, service the fire alarms, and maintain the electrical installation. All food and accommodation is paid for, and you'll be in a generous pension scheme. The catch, you'll need to be comfortable with the cold, and I mean cold. Very cold. Like minus 20° cold. That's because the position is based at the research station of the British Antarctic Survey right by the South Pole. However, former employees described the role as the opportunity of a lifetime. One said it was like living in a nature documentary. Another asked, "Where else can you watch icebergs, penguins, and whales go past while you're working?" I've put the link in the show notes. Let us know if you get the job and remember to wrap up. Well, that's the lighter side of the news in our tea with Quickwire and their range of incredibly rapid electrical connectors. Click the link in the description to check them out for yourself. 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 like having an Italian Star Striker in your premiership team. It's Lewden Palazzoli. 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. 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 guesses and select one at random to be the winner of an eFIXX goodie bag prize. Answers submitted after midnight on the Wednesday after release will not be entered into the draw. Now, let's reveal the winners of last week's challenge word competition. Last week's words were Seahorse and Perspicacious. And the first name to come out of our electronic hat was Jason FKM5MQ, who not only won this week's challenge word competition, he also won the challenge wall competition in last week's episode of eFIXX TV, which was amazing, by the way, and very much worth a catch up on. We got more information about the updated regs from the horse's mouth. And we actually had a house band in the studio. Not even joking. Anyway, well done, Jason. Don't forget to click the link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly in association with Anker Solix, the world's number one plug-and-play solar battery storage. 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.