EV Salary Boost: it's a pay rise you can drive!
Rohan O'Neill-Stevens, a Green Party candidate for Nelson and ex-deputy mayor, is among the one third of New Zealanders living in a rental. As he explains in the next instalment of Political Power, that limits the power he has over the machines in his life, but he's doing pretty well on that front and there are ways that could be improved, like Solar for Renters or plug-in solar.
And when you have energy abundance, you can have that 20 minute "treat shower" once a week, rather than once a month, he says.
In 2022, he became the youngest person ever elected to council and O'Neill Stevens also played a role in getting Nelson its electric bus fleet.
Plenty of people thought the project wasn't possible but, with the backing of the community, they nailed it.
"Seeing it come to life is wonderful, but it's also about going, what are the next steps for it."
As a region, Nelson-Tasman is at the leading edge in terms of solar panel and EV uptake, but he says we've still got a long way to go.
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Along with taxes, education and health, energy is proving to be a big talking point in the run up to the election .. which is now 33 days away. All the political parties have released some energy policies .. and while they're quite varied in their approaches .. the main focus seems to be bringing down the cost of electricity for us consumers. Our first guest would like electric transport to also be part of the conversation .. he's calling for a 'great EV comeback' and has some ideas about how to make it happen. Mike Casey, Rewiring Aotearoa Chief Executive joins Jesse.
The electric election continues apace! National announced its 'Electrify NZ 2.0 plan' last week and Mike Casey joined Andrew Dickens on Newstalk ZB to talk about the potential for peer-to-peer trading of energy, the roll of solar in lowering power prices, data centres needing to bring their own generation, and the likelihood that all this talk will turn into action.
