Electrification can be a confusing realm and there is a lot of conflicting information out there. The Electric Homes report is a good source of information around costs and try to find others who have electrified their homes to get recommendations for installers. 

Getting multiple quotes is always recommended. 

The more you know, the better you’ll be at telling suppliers what you want. Some providers may be incentivised to offer, for example, gas hot water systems because they’re easier to install or they’ve been doing it for so many years. If you’re building or renovating, knowledge is power, so knowing that fossil fuel machines will always cost you more than electric machines over their lifetime is important to take into any discussion. 

Rewiring Aotearoa is creating an electrification community, where advice and resources can be shared, and there are a range of other helpful communities on social media like NZ EV Owners or the Australian community My Efficient Electric Home. 

When it comes to solar, check your sunlight hours on NIWA’s Solar view. In many cases, even if you think there’s not enough sun in your region or your roof doesn’t face the right way, solar panels could still work because they generate electricity even when it’s cloudy and the efficiency of panels has improved so much. 

We also know from talking to solar installers in New Zealand and in other markets that only around 5% of roofs are unsuitable for solar. 

The upfront cost of installing electric machines and solar puts many people off. It can feel like a long payback time but when you are making a purchasing decision you also need to factor in the cost of fuelling that machine and electric machines will save you tens of thousands over the lifetime of the machine. In some ways, it’s just about swapping fuel for finance. All the major banks offer low-interest green loans to home loan customers, but we are pushing for longer term loans. 

More work needs to be done here to educate the banks and make the application process easier. But even when you build in the upfront costs and interest costs, electric homes save you tens of thousands over 15 years. 

For those who are unsure how long they will be in a home, or how long the family will be there, it can also be hard to look too far into the future. 

These investments will often save you money straight away, and some research suggests that the addition of solar can add value to the property if you do come to sell it. 

There are many private finance options available that may help you afford the upfront cost. Many of them require you to have a home loan with that institution but some offer low-interest loans for more sustainable products like hot water heat pumps. Here are some current options available: 

• Green loan low-interest finance offers from lenders such as ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank, Westpac, ANZ and others.  
• MoneyHub has a good rundown of the funding options, from mortgage top-ups to green finance credit cards, and what to be aware of. 

*Please note we do not endorse any of these options, and suggest you always consult a financial advisor. 

How easy or hard it will be to electrify your home depends on the kind of home and appliances you have, but many other people have been through this process and there are generally solutions to all of your problems. Our energy experts are also happy to help so get in touch with your questions and concerns at hello@rewiring.nz.

Heat pumps for space heating are now extremely popular in New Zealand, and there are a lot of reputable installers that may only need a few hours for installation (depending on things like roof space or access to an outdoor area). 

Hot water heat pumps are a newer technology, but they are also growing in popularity. It can be complicated to retrofit a gas hot water system, especially if there are radiators as well, and it may require an upgrade to your wiring, but more companies are offering these services and the savings and emissions reductions are generally worth the initial disruption. 

Induction cooktops require a certified electrician to install (and maybe a plumber if disconnecting gas), but there are also portable options. 

In other markets, there are a growing number of one-stop home electrification shops. At this stage, there aren’t many, if any, in New Zealand, but we would love to create a market for that. If you’re an installer and want to chat about the potential business opportunity, you can also get in touch via hello@rewiring.nz

Installation of solar panels can take less than a day and many solar companies can also install EV chargers at the same time. For those without a readily accessible powerpoint where you park your car off the street, that can be easily solved. And installing a smart charger means you can benefit from cheap solar energy during the day, or cheaper grid electricity at night. 

While around 50% of solar installs now include a home battery, things are changing rapidly in this space. We now have EVs that can feed energy back into the grid or power your home. While this is only available on newer (and more expensive) models, cars are becoming transportable batteries and smart tech means users can set limits on how low the battery can go so they can still get to where they need to go. 

We feel your pain. Rewiring Aotearoa is advocating strongly for a fairer system where customer generation is able to compete with any other form of generation. We believe there is still a bias towards large-scale generation (supply-side solutions) when the rapidly reducing cost of customer generation like solar means there has never been a stronger argument for customers to play a role in the energy system.  

We are pushing for cost reflective two-way tariffs (ie better export rates) in New Zealand as that will speed up the payback period and incentivise adoption. It will also bolster our energy security as many of the electric machines can be fuelled by the little power plant on your roof and peak loads can be reduced with the help of batteries. 

In the meantime, some retailers do offer incentives and better buy-back rates for solar and battery exports. Time of use plans and free power periods are good for those with batteries and electric vehicles, so have a look on Powerswitch for the best plans. But remember this key point: swapping your energy source from fossil fuels to electricity is likely to save you much more than swapping your electricity provider. 

Renters make up around one third of New Zealand households, and are left behind on reaping the full benefits of efficient electric homes. Rewiring Aotearoa, and other organisations, are advocating for better renters rights to rectify this but fixing the finance so that these technologies are available to everyone and providing incentives to landlords to electrify their properties so tenants benefit is crucial. Whether you’re a renter or not, write to your MP and demand access to electrification finance - and incentives!

If you are renting, consider discussing upgrade options with your landlord. Some landlords may be open to installing solar panels, especially as it is likely to enhance the property value and attractiveness as a rental. And when it comes to installing other electric machines in the property, you could calculate a value proposition and negotiate a slight rental increase in exchange for bill reduction. 

Renters can get most of the benefits of an EV even if it has to be charged via the grid, and there are also a range of very affordable portable options like plug in induction stoves and even portable heat pumps.

New Zealand’s grid is over 80% renewable and we should rightly be proud of that. But only about 30% of our total energy consumption is renewable because we are so reliant on fossil fuels for transport and industry. When you look at it that way, we’re not so renewable. We need to reduce our reliance on expensive fossil fuels and start relying on more affordable, locally-produced electricity. 

Rooftop solar is the cheapest form of energy humans have ever created and the cheapest form of delivered energy in New Zealand (ie the price that customers pay, not what it costs to generate and transport). investing in solar basically locks in decades of electricity at the same price, while battery technology allows us to store that electricity and use it at peak times. 

The prices for other energy sources - including grid electricity - are expected to keep going up, but the price of solar and batteries look set to keep going down. 

As taxpayers, we also don’t want to spend too much upgrading poles and wires to cope with all the electricity we’ll need in the future when homes, businesses and farmers could be part of the energy system and generate affordable electricity for themselves or sell it and create a new revenue stream.

We certainly need more renewable generation. But we just have to use that electricity in the right way and try to generate as much of it ourselves. On Mike Casey’s farm, he’s increased the electricity use by 900% compared to the previous farmer after swapping fossil fuel machines for electric equivalents. About half of that is generated with solar and stored in batteries, but grid electricity is still required. Because he doesn’t use any more electricity at peak times, however, there is no undue stress on the system or any need for additional fossil fuel electricity. It also costs less. 

Because electrified homes are so much more efficient, they need less energy overall (likely less than half), but they will need double to triple the amount of electricity for their vehicles and appliances. 

Where we get all that extra electricity from is a strategically important question for New Zealand. Generally, the country has focused on building new generation (supply side) but consumer energy like rooftop solar and batteries (demand side) should play an important role and needs to work alongside the grid. Also, renewable energy technologies continue to drop in price and it is vital to take this into account when planning for and building out our energy system to be low cost and resilient.

New Zealand has a very real chance of becoming the world’s most electric economy. We have a rich history of electrical innovation. We created the world’s first all-electric home, with the world’s first practical electric home water heater; the southern hemisphere’s first electric public lighting in Reefton; the world’s first electric gold dredge; the world’s first wet steam geothermal electricity power station; and, more recently, the world’s first electric orchard. 

The country could go from importing billions of dollars of some of the world’s most expensive fossil fuels to saving billions and reducing emissions by instead using locally produced electricity in more efficient electric machines. This will lead to more cost effective homes, businesses, farms and industries.

Small countries make up a large chunk of the world's emissions when you add them all together and if we can improve our energy productivity and prove our self-sufficiency - something New Zealand has always prided itself on - then we can have an influence on the global climate discussion.

Absolutely not. We’re very much pro-grid. We need a reliable grid and we need as much large-scale renewable energy generation as possible to meet expected demand, but we also need to mix that in with small-scale renewable generation closer to the point of consumption and customers need to understand that rooftop solar is the cheapest form of delivered energy in New Zealand.