The New Zealand Green Building Council welcomes this morning’s announcement of the National Party’s Home Energy Fund election policy as a great step towards modernising and strengthening our energy system.
NZ Green Building Council chief executive Andrew Eagles says, “We have been talking to all political parties about improving energy efficiency and resilience and this policy is an important step.
“Upfront costs have been a key barrier. Allowing families to access lower-cost funding makes it easier to upgrade homes with more efficient heat pumps, improve insulation and install roof top solar and batteries.
“These programmes are low-cost options for any Government, they work well in other countries and done right make a real difference.”
BRANZ research released this morning shows that programmes to help fund better heating and insulation have had a positive impact in raising temperatures in New Zealand homes, but many bedrooms are still too cold in winter and overheating in summer.
“NZGBC is pleased to see insulation and hot water heat pumps included in the proposed scheme but too many New Zealanders are being exposed to conditions that are not consistently at healthy and comfortable temperatures. This requires a harder look at the Building Code,” says Eagles.
In Australia, New South Wales and Victorian energy schemes offer rebates of thousands of dollars for taking up these measures and has meant uptake has been at scale.
“There are huge advantages when these schemes are taken up at scale, including dramatically helping with peak load, a real challenge for New Zealand.
The widespread installation of batteries means Australia can now effectively distribute as much power at peak load as two Huntly power stations.
“This is great for security and energy resilience. There’s no resource consent needed, no planning, construction delays or cost increases to deliver that power. It happened in the space of 18 months.
“We have been pushing for this move and it is great to see National taking it forward.”
Our 2026 Manifesto: “Building a smarter, lower cost energy future for Kiwi families” contains recommendations to cut red tape, build energy resilience and improve our homes and buildings.
Some of the additional policy recommendations made: