The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
Mike Casey’s approach to sustainability is as bold and unapologetic as the message emblazoned across his work: Whakahiko te ao – Electrify everything. For Mike, sustainability isn’t a passive aspiration—it’s an active pursuit grounded in data, driven by urgency, and infused with positivity.
His journey started, perhaps unexpectedly, with the sale of a successful startup in Australia. What followed wasn’t a retreat, but a return—to Aotearoa, to the whenua near Cromwell, and to a purpose that felt deeply necessary. With his wife, Mike bought land and planted a cherry orchard. It seemed like a good way to contribute to climate action—until climate scientist Carly Green helped quantify the impact.
While 9,300 cherry trees would sequester about three tonnes of CO₂ annually, the traditional diesel-run orchard setup would emit 50 tonnes each year. That contrast sparked something bigger. Mike made the call to run Forest Lodge Orchard entirely on electricity—tractors, frost fans, sprayers, even the motorbikes. And just like that, the world’s first fully electric orchard was born.
But Mike didn’t stop at innovation. He opened the gates. Over 12,000 people, many of them skeptical farmers, have walked the rows of Forest Lodge, witnessing firsthand how clean energy can power productivity. What they leave with isn’t just inspiration—it’s a shift in mindset.
Mike’s bigger mission is now playing out through Rewiring Aotearoa, a think-and-do tank pushing for widespread electrification across the country. To him, the path forward is clear: we don’t need to go backwards to go green. We can power our homes, farms, and businesses with local, clean energy. It’s a win for the climate, for our wallets, and for our national energy resilience.
He draws inspiration from Dr Saul Griffith and global initiatives like Rewiring America, bringing their ethos to New Zealand’s unique context. And while Mike’s work is driven by data, his message is refreshingly human. He doesn’t shame fossil fuels or ask people to sacrifice. Instead, he speaks in plain language—about costs, savings, and better alternatives.
What sets Mike apart is his clarity. Sustainability, he says, is an energy problem—and the solutions are within reach. It’s not about guilt; it’s about good choices. It’s about showing people that switching to electric is smart, not just ethical.
Funding, of course, remains a challenge. Rewiring Aotearoa is philanthropically supported, and to keep moving at speed, Mike knows they need backing. But what they’ve already achieved speaks volumes. Their impact is growing rapidly, and the momentum is hard to ignore.
For Mike, New Zealand’s superpower lies in its potential to lead—not by being perfect, but by being brave. “We have the resources,” he says. “Now we need the will.” And if Forest Lodge Orchard is anything to go by, showing what’s possible can be the spark that changes everything.
If there’s one seed of change Mike hopes to plant, it’s this: when it’s time to replace something—whether it’s a car, a heat pump, or a tractor—choose electric. It’s a simple decision with transformational power. Because sometimes, the most radical change starts with just plugging in.
In the last Electric Avenue of 2025, we look at the two biggest trends in the world of energy; the Government goes electric for its fancy fleet upgrade; Nick Offerman offers his services to a US campaign extolling the virtues of EVs; Australia shows what's possible in new homes when you add solar, batteries and smart tech; a start-up selling portable solar and battery systems that wants it to be as easy and common as wi-fi; and The Lines Company looks to put some solar on the roof of the Ōtorohanga Kiwi House.
Read moreDownloadWhen it comes to electric farming, "the numbers are becoming undeniable," says Nicholson Poultry's Jeff Collings. With 60kW of solar, a Nissan Leaf as a 'farm quad', electric mowers, an electric ute that can run a water blaster, and even a chicken manure scraper made out of a wrecked Tesla that, as Rewiring's Matt Newman says, looks a bit like something out of Mad Max, "almost everything is electric". There aren't many others in New Zealand who have gone this far down the electric road. And, with his electric Stark Varg, the fastest off-road motorbike in the world, he's obviously having plenty of fun on that road, too.
Read moreDownloadRNZ's Kate Newton reports on the "madness" of thousands of new piped gas connections being installed into houses every year, despite dwindling supplies and higher lifetime costs.
Casey said it was positive that the numbers showed people starting to leave the gas network of their own accord, but not all households were in a position to make that choice.
"If we don't plan for a decommissioning of the gas network, then it's going to be a chaotic transition, where vulnerable New Zealanders really suffer."
As the research of Rewiring and others has shown, gas is expensive, it's getting more expensive, it's terrible for your health when burned inside and there are substitutes available right now that, on average, do the same job for less money over the long run for households, would save the country billions on health costs and lost productivity, and don't pump out unnecessary emissions.
Around 300,000 homes and businesses have connections to the gas network (it’s estimated another 300,000 use more expensive bottled gas, mostly in the South Island). The number of active connections has started to decline recently and the country’s largest gas network, Vector, is forecasting no new residential or commercial connections after 2029.
Upfront capital costs are the main barrier for many homes, which is why we're working hard on a low-interest, long-term loan scheme that can be used to pay for electric upgrades, including hot water heat pumps. This would mean paying for a new thing with a loan would be cheaper than paying to run the old thing.
Read more about the scheme here.
Disconnection costs are also a major barrier. We have seen examples where households permanently disconnecting from the network have been charged between $1,000 and $2,000 to have a meter permanently removed (i.e. digging up the pipes to the road), even though it should only cost customers $200 to have the connection capped at the house.
RNZ even reported a case where a business customer was quoted $7,500 but took the case to Utilities Disputes, where complaints about disconnection costs have been rising.
The Australian Energy Regulator and the state of Victoria have now capped the disconnection fees to a few hundred dollars to stop this kind of behaviour and protect households.