He says his wife and mother-in-law are pushing to have the trees around the property chopped down so they can put solar on the roof and his son has suggested they could be taken down to 45%, but he values his privacy.

"I don't want every bugger Googling or goggling or ogling. I'm slowly fighting a losing battle," he says.

As we like to say, when you've got an oil well and refinery on your roof, you tend to look at where you can use that energy and an EV is a good option, especially given the vast majority of charging happens at home. Longer range EVs also suit those in more remote areas under-served by public chargers.

He has been typically forthright about the need to split up the gentailers, whereas Rewiring's view is that customers with solar would be the biggest competition they can get.

"We're very leery of creating a subsidy trap ... If you're doing a transition, I think there's a moral justification for a subsidy, but if they're poorly targeted and help people like the Matua who should be doing it anyway, then it's not a good utilisation of pūtea or Government money."

The Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, which National backed last week as an election policy and Shane Jones supported publicly at the Electrify Queenstown event, is not a subsidy. It's a finance mechanism that harnesses the borrowing power of the public sector and allows a private investment at lower rates and over longer terms.

It will mean that more people - including quite a few older voters who may be asset rich but cash poor - can get past the upfront cost barrier and start saving.

Jones says getting larger systems cranking on farms, schools and churches is something NZ First is keen on, and it's important than anyone storing energy in a battery and sending it back to the grid is rewarded fairly for that, something we've pushed for with multiple trading relationships.

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