Electrical Times
Electrical Times is a monthly trade magazine for the United Kingdom electrical contracting industry, based in London and published for electrical contractors, wholesalers and related professionals. In continuous publication since 1892, it describes itself as the electrical trade's longest-serving magazine, and it has kept that position by doing a practical job: helping the owners and managers of contracting businesses run better businesses, and helping the people who maintain, repair and install electrical systems in commercial, industrial, high-end residential and institutional buildings keep up with the technology, products and rules that govern their work. Its official website is electricaltimes.co.uk.
A title in continuous publication since 1892
Longevity is the defining fact about Electrical Times. A trade title that has appeared without interruption since 1892 has lived through the entire modern history of its industry, from the first generation of public electricity supply to the era of smart buildings, electric vehicles and net zero targets. That continuity matters in a trade built on trust, qualifications and reputation. Contractors who read the magazine today are, in many cases, working for firms that have traded for decades themselves, and a publication that has reported on the sector for well over a century carries a weight that a newer launch cannot easily replicate. The magazine presents that heritage plainly, as evidence that it understands contracting as a long-term business rather than a passing trend.
Who the magazine is for
The readership is drawn from across the electrical contracting chain. Subscribers are described as company owners and senior executives working in commercial, industrial and high-end domestic work, alongside readers at all levels within the contracting industry and the wholesale trade that supplies it. That breadth shapes the editorial mix. A sole trader or small firm owner needs business and financial news, guidance on running a company and clear explanations of regulatory change. A larger contractor needs market analysis, reports on major projects and people moves, and early sight of the technologies that clients will soon be asking for. Wholesalers need product information and a sense of where demand is heading. Electrical Times is edited to serve all of those readers in a single monthly package.
Editorial content: technical, commercial and practical
The magazine provides independent editorial built around several recurring strands. Technical articles explain how systems work and how they should be installed and maintained. Case studies show real projects and the problems they solved. Special reports examine particular application areas in depth, product information keeps readers current with new equipment, and business and financial news covers the commercial side of contracting. Coverage of industry conferences and trade shows, and profiles of prominent people and businesses in the sector, complete the mix. Features trailed for recent issues have included subjects such as software and apps, tools and workwear, and renewables, which gives a fair picture of the balance: hands-on kit, digital tools for running jobs, and the fast-growing low-carbon work that now forms a large part of many contractors' order books.
The Top 50 Electrical Contractors report
One of the magazine's signature products is the Top 50 Electrical Contractors report, published annually and featured in the December issue alongside the review of the Electrical Industry Awards. The report ranks leading contracting firms and tracks their financial performance, including where profits have risen or fallen across the sector. In its 2021 edition, for example, the magazine reported that 30 per cent of the top 50 firms had seen a decline in profit while ten companies grew profits by more than 50 per cent, and it named the firms behind the largest movements. For readers, the value is benchmarking: the report shows how the biggest businesses in the trade are performing, which gives smaller firms, suppliers and competitors a grounded picture of the market they operate in.
The Electrical Industry Awards
For more than 30 years Electrical Times has organised the Electrical Industry Awards, described as the premier awards programme in the trade and the only national awards recognising people, products and projects in the sector. Submissions open from April, judging takes place in August, and winners are published in a special issue each December. The 2021 ceremony, held as a virtual event and hosted by a well-known weather presenter, rewarded categories ranging from Apprentice of the Year and Contractor of the Year to Wholesaler of the Year, with winners drawn from manufacturers, training bodies and contracting firms across the country. Comments from the editor at that event captured the magazine's editorial stance: celebrating the hard work and adaptability of the sector through the pandemic, Brexit-related supply shortages and shortages of staff, materials and drivers. The awards give the title a convening role in the industry, not just a reporting one.
Print, digital and newsletter reach
Electrical Times remains a print-led title with a substantial digital operation around it. Its monthly print publication has reported a circulation of around 10,500 copies, with the digital edition reaching a further 19,000 readers in more recent figures; an earlier publisher statement put print at 10,556 with a further 7,500 digital readers, showing steady digital growth. A monthly email newsletter reaches around 18,000 inboxes, and the magazine maintains an active social presence with more than 15,700 followers on Twitter in its published figures. The website acts as the daily and weekly layer of the brand, carrying breaking news, technical features and market analysis between print issues, so readers can follow the title in whichever format suits the working day.
People and publishing operation
The magazine has been edited by Lisa Peake, who fronted the Electrical Industry Awards and wrote and spoke for the title on industry resilience. The publishing operation invites contributions and news items from across the trade and can be contacted through its London-linked office and the Purple Media Solutions publishing operation associated with the title. That openness to reader and industry contributions is characteristic of established trade publishing: much of the best material in a contracting magazine originates with manufacturers launching products, firms completing notable projects and industry bodies announcing training or regulatory developments, and the editorial team's job is to select, test and present it independently.
Coverage themes: net zero, skills and standards
The subjects that recur in Electrical Times reflect the pressures on UK contracting. Net zero is a constant theme, including interviews with senior figures from major electrical groups on future networks and the changes the transition demands. Skills and training feature prominently, with apprentice achievement celebrated in the awards and training providers among the winners. Safety, competence and the campaign against unqualified operators form part of the wider conversation the magazine reports, as do late payment, material shortages and supply chain disruption. By returning to those themes month after month, the title functions as a running record of what the trade is worried about and what it is investing in.
Place in the UK electrical media landscape
Electrical Times operates in a specialist corner of business publishing where titles survive by being useful to a defined professional audience rather than by chasing general readers. Its combination of a nineteenth-century founding date, a monthly print edition with a five-figure circulation, an annual industry ranking, a long-running national awards scheme and a growing digital and newsletter audience makes it one of the most complete media brands in UK electrical contracting. For manufacturers and service providers, it is a route to reach the owners and senior executives who specify and buy. For contractors and wholesalers, it is a monthly briefing on the technology, commerce and people shaping their trade.
Why Electrical Times matters
A magazine that has served one trade since 1892 matters because trades run on shared knowledge: how to install safely, how to price work, how to train the next generation and how to adapt when the technology changes. Electrical Times has carried that knowledge for the UK electrical contracting industry for more than 130 years, and it continues to do so in print, online and through the awards and reports that the sector uses to measure itself. That is the basis of its authority, and of its place in any directory of British magazines.
