Te Whakahiko i ngā Marae | the Electric Marae report
Whangārei will have a new MP this year after Shane Reti announced he was standing down and National candidate Lloyd Budd is gunning for the title. So how electric is his life? As he tells us in the latest episode of Political Power, he has a claim to fame.
As an ex-real estate man, he was involved with some of Tesla's property deals and was one of the first in New Zealand to get hold of a Tesla Model X. He's a big fan of the acceleration, smoothness and quietness an EV offers.
"The driving experience on an EV is unbeatable."
At home, he has heat pumps on the wall and he cooks with induction. It's just the gas hot water waiting to be upgraded.
And, like a growing number of New Zealanders, he's looking at getting solar on the roof to avoid those high grid costs and fill up on cheap electrons.
Northland spends around $330 million a year on fossil fuels. There's a massive opportunity to save money and keep it the community by electrifying the machines. So what's his message?
"Let's embrace it. This technology is here, it's real, it saves money, there's lots of support from banks and lots of support from Government. Get in behind it."
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Rewiring Aotearoa's Matt Newman: "For marae, however, there aren't a huge amount of places where they could turn to unless they're engaging professional services around electrification. We know that that hasn't often been in the funding piece either. You know, funders will happily fund upgrades for marae, but they won't fund the due diligence that's necessary to support marae in making really good decisions for the long-term future."
Read moreDownloadRewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey told Andrew Dickens plug-in solar is a simple process, which many countries including the US, UK, and places across Europe have made the most of. Labour's policy is similar but says changes to enable plug-in solar would be within 12 months of a government it leads taking office.
A shocking increase in the power bill for a marae that converted to solar energy has raised concerns about installers and regulation. The monthly power bill for Taranaki's Owae Marae has rocked to as much as $2000 a month, up from about $400. That's despite installing a solar system on its wharekai to save money. Matt Newman from Rewiring Aotearoa spoke to Lisa Owen about this issue and our new Electric Marae report.
