The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
Rural solar already made sense in most cases, but ASB has made it even more appealing with the launch of what could be seen as the farm equivalent of a green loan: 0% interest for five years for farm installs worth up to $150,000. Aidan Gent, general manager of ASB Rural, talked to Kerre Woodham on Newstalk ZB and explained the thinking behind the offer.
As the ASB media release explains:
As farmers brace for another season of high electricity prices, ASB is helping them save money, improve energy security and cut emissions with its new ASB SMART Solar Loan.
With a sunny 5 years interest-free on up to $150,000 for solar and battery systems, the market-leading product will help rural customers self-generate energy to power their farm.
ASB has engaged Prism Earth to develop online interactive tools to help farmers assess the benefits of solar for their business, including pioneering capability for farmers to map good locations for solar on their farm. Available shortly, the tools will also enable farmers to calculate their potential energy and emissions savings from solar and expected payback time from investment.
ASB SMART Solar draws on insights from research ASB conducted with energy transition charity Rewiring Aotearoa, which found 66% latent demand for electrification among farmers, compared to 48% among residential survey respondents.3 The key barrier to adopting solar was the high upfront cost. Most farms had rooftop space available for solar, and 60% of farmers said they had land which could be used for solar without reducing production.
This research found a 250m² ground solar system could save farmers up to $598,200 over the lifetime of the panels from avoided grid costs, at a median installation cost of $110,600. While every farm is different, in this scenario, an ASB SMART Solar customer could expect to pay back their solar set up from as early as their 6th year of generation.
With rural areas at the end of the electricity network, ASB General Manager Rural Aidan Gent says unlocking the potential of farm solar is an important way ASB can help strengthen energy security for farmers, and regional communities.
"We're stepping up with this strong offer for our rural customers, as we're committed to investing in a more resilient future for regional New Zealand," says Aidan. "From high-tech milking sheds to irrigation, farmers need affordable, reliable energy. Solar generation will help farmers work smoothly through power outages and extreme weather events, when rural communities are often the last to be reconnected.
"With cheaper energy from the day solar is up and running, and five years interest-free to get started, ASB SMART Solar will be the right call for many farmers.
"Rising power bills and a drive to be more self-sufficient motivated North Otago dairy farmer Otto Dogterom to install solar panels on farm in 2021. "Power prices were going up faster than inflation and I wanted to insulate against further increases." He says his 240 kWh ground system is perfect for powering irrigation across the 300-hectare farm, as sunny days are when irrigation is needed most.
Otto says as well as being a good business investment, solar is positive for rural communities: "It's a way farmers can do our bit for the environment and make New Zealand as a whole more resilient."
For farmers with larger solar initiatives, ASB SMART Solar lending can be combined with ASB's Business Sustainability Loan, which offers special variable rates on eligible projects.
The ASB SMART Solar Loan launches at National Fieldays on 11 June, with the new solar tools and energy calculator available shortly after on the ASB website. The offer is available for existing and new ASB rural customers until 15 December 2025, at ASB's discretion.
1 DairyNZ Econ Tracker, Farm Economics, 25/26 dairy season budget forecasts, based on 456 peak cows milked, as at 09 June 2025.
2 Rewiring Aotearoa/ Federated Farmers survey, 1000 respondents, March 2025.
3 Rewiring Aotearoa, Residential and Rural Electrification, March 2025.
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.