
RNZ's Kathryn Ryan talked to Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey and Electricity Networks Aotearoa's Tracey Kai about the changes proposed by the Energy Competition Taskforce and how they will improve the already impressive return on investment for solar and batteries. As Casey said, the most important thing to remember is that the biggest benefits to households come from using solar as it is the cheapest form of delivered electricity available to New Zealand homes and those with electric machines and cars can save thousands each year on their energy bills. Exporting excess energy is generally a cherry on top and the proposed changes to reward peak export might only represent a small increase for households, but they may be significant for farmers or businesses with more space. More solar and batteries also helps to bring down the cost for everyone on the network, reduces the need for expensive pole and wire upgrades, which are paid for on customers' bills and can also help create more security of supply by keeping water in the dams.
After ‘crunching the numbers’ and adding in new sources of ‘New Zealand-made energy’ to our equations, CEO Mike Casey has announced that Rewiring Aotearoa will be changing its name to Refuelling Aotearoa. There has been a huge amount of independently verified research showing electrification beats fossil fuels on economics, efficiency, emissions and energy security and that there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand to electrify, but the discovery of an infinite supply of snake oil in New Zealand has changed everything, he says.
Read moreDownload"We’ve got fuel prices climbing towards four dollars a litre. We’ve got global instability, supply lines under pressure, and once again New Zealand is sitting here — exposed. But what’s different this time…it’s the reaction."