The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
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We love a tipping point at Rewiring. We reached an important one last year when our Electric Home research showed that New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world where buying and running electric machines in your home was cheaper than gas and petrol equivalents. And we may have reached another one recently because residential gas connections have dropped from 291,586 in mid-December to 290,530 in mid-April.
Given expected average price increases of around 10% per year, the lack of options customers now have to shift suppliers, and the potential savings from going electric, we're predicting they will keep dropping as we enter what's known as the 'gas death spiral'.
It's important to note that a small proportion of our total gas supply is used by homes. Most of it is used for industry and electricity generation, and there was a bit of a shake-up in 2024 when we dealth with a dry year and a gas shortage.
But it's also important to note that gas in homes makes no sense: it's more expensive, you need to pay more to give your kids asthma, and it's worse for the environment.
Unfortunately, New Zealanders who want to disconnect from the gas network are being confronted with exorbitant costs. Consumer NZ is doing some good work policing the fees being charged to customers, but more needs to be done to reduce them. And more needs to be done to ensure those who are forced to remain on the network aren't burdened by the costs of maintaining it.
If your gas water heater, gas fire or gas cooktop are getting on a bit, don't invest in the wrong tech and get locked into another 15 years of rising prices and unnecessary emissions. Make your next purchasing decision electric.
Check out TVNZ's piece on rising gas prices here https://loom.ly/kR4YpLc
And RNZ's reporting here https://loom.ly/YcTOb5c
Everyone is rocking on down to Electric Avenue today (this one online, not that other small one in Hagley Park in Christchurch), so let's ride the lightning: profits and electricity prices keep going up, as panels keep going down; a new paper puts a number on how much more homes with solar sell for; we're bottling things up with big and small batteries and they are eating into gas in Australia and California; transport emissions drop across the Tasman as a result of Government EV incentives, while HEB Construction electrifies its fleet; electrons are coming from above in China; and Xpeng announces the arrival of a crazy looking electric van/aircraft carrier.
Read moreDownloadWarren G and Nate Dogg said it best when they said: 'Regulators, mount up!' - and this week, they have.In a rare joint open letter, three different regulators - EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), the Commerce Commission and the Electricity Authority - have basically told the lines companies to pull their socks up and make the most of ‘non-network solutions’ (AKA stop building more expensive poles and wires and start looking at customers and new technology as part of the solution!).
Read moreDownload"The LNG announcement from earlier this month has set the stage: electricity, and the energy sector more broadly, is set to be a major election issue this year. Casey has compared electricity to telecommunications, an area where services have become much cheaper in the last decade with technology advancing. “There are supply challenges for the grid and natural gas, and increasing pressure to find sustainable alternatives as reliance on fossil fuels becomes less viable,” he wrote in a Newsroom piece earlier this month, heralding the “electric election”.
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