Members of our team often hear about, and have experienced themselves, unnecessary delays in having solar installed and inspected and different regions often have different rules and may work to different standards. When you add those inefficiencies up it comes at a significant cost to customers.

We've split this guide into advice for: 

• Households
• Farms and businesses
• Renters
• Installers, inspectors and energy professionals

If you’ve only got a few minutes, try to get these points across to the Ministry. We need to:

• Improve (or automate) the approval process with lines companies.
• Streamline the installation and inspection process.
• Create national standards across lines companies.
• Legalise plug-in solar.
• Make solar on existing buildings and ground-mounted systems under a sensible size a permitted activity across the country.

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Fill in the survey before midnight June 1 here

For households

If you’ve already got solar, it is likely that all you can think about is how great it is and how much money you’re saving! Like many, you might be constantly checking your app and showing everyone how much you’re generating on a sunny day.  

But you may have also paid too much and you may have forgotten about little delays and frustrations along the way, often including:

• Weeks waiting for approval from your lines company (depending on where you live, as different companies have different rules).
• Unnecessary dramas, cost and delay getting your meter swapped.
• Waiting days, weeks or even months for your perfectly great solar system to be inspected and allowed to generate New Zealand Made Energy!

While each of these may be minor, cumulatively they add up and require installers to build uncertainty and delay into their business processes. Customers may not notice this, but it matters because it adds cost to customers. And our research shows that New Zealanders could be paying around twice as much as Australians for the same products. Some of that is down to scale, but some of that is down to our less efficient processes.

If it went well for you, it’s still worth submitting about how easy it was and why you felt that way! There is a lot of variability depending on lines companies and retailers, so please include this information so the Ministry can see these major differences.

Safety is absolutely paramount when it comes to solar. We’re not convinced the current approach maximises safety outcomes but we are convinced it adds to extra trips, delay and frustration.

While solar inspections are undertaken by registered independent inspectors, sometimes we reckon they aren’t so independent and they often have just a handful of companies they inspect for. Consumers can wait weeks or even months for an inspection.

Often inspectors are sent a bunch of photos before they visit and physical “inspections” themselves can last less than ten minutes and not include much actual physical inspection (more just turning on the system).

We reckon there is a better way, one that will simultaneously deliver better safety outcomes, faster and at lower cost. In Australia, many systems are signed off remotely by inspectors.

If you've had an issue with inspections or required resource consent for any reason, let the Ministry know what it was for and whether you thought it was reasonable.

For farms and businesses

The same solar red tape issues apply to farms, businesses and commercial buildings, but lines company approval often takes longer and an additional resource consenting layer may also apply.

The same system might require a resource consent in one jurisdiction but not in another. That makes no sense and just slows down new low cost energy being added to New Zealand.

The Electricity Authority has made 10kW export limits compulsory across the country and the Government has said there is now no need for building consents for residential solar. The same national standard should apply for solar installs on existing buildings and ground-mount systems under a sensible size as it’s not a ‘new business activity’ and does not impact the landscape like large systems.

Lines company approval can be more of an issue for these medium-sized installations, with lines companies more likely to decline applications, or place unreasonable size constraints on installations.

If you have had an application declined and think it was unreasonable, tell the Ministry in the survey.

And if you needed resource consent for any reason, let them know what for and whether you thought it was reasonable.

For renters (or those for whom rooftop solar doesn’t work)

The Ministry for Regulation's solar review explicitly includes plug-in solar in its scope. Plug in solar offers a meaningful path for households where rooftop installations aren’t suitable, including renters, people in apartments and those on low incomes.

Read more about what plug-in solar is and the difference it could make to New Zealand here.

For Question 8 — What issues have you experienced or observed? we recommend you tell the Ministry, in your own words:

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You want plug-in solar available in New Zealand, to lower power bills with a simple (no electrician required) and affordable plug-and-play solution. It's proven safe and popular overseas. Germany has over a million registered installations. The UK is enabling them this year. 4-5 million installations across Europe. Every country that has looked at this carefully has concluded the technology is safe.

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Renters and people who can't access rooftop solar need this. One in three New Zealanders rents. People in apartments, on low incomes, or without suitable roofs have no practical path to solar generation.

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If you can, share a personal experience: for example, how plug-in solar would benefit you or someone you know.

For Question 9 — What changes would most improve the solar installation process? we recommend you tell the Ministry, in your own words:

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Plug-in solar should be made legal in New Zealand. These are safe, proven devices used by millions of households overseas. The rules that prevent them here are outdated and haven't kept pace with the technology. Renters and low-income households deserve access to affordable solar generation and plug-in solar is a practical way to achieve that.

For installers, inspectors and other energy professionals

If you are an installer who thinks the process is unnecessarily complex or other players are protecting their jobs or margins and making customers pay too much, fill in the survey.

If you’re an inspector who thinks there are others in the sector who are protecting their jobs or margins, and there are issues around independence or timeliness, fill in the survey.

If you’re an EDB employee who sees inertia where there could be action and thinks there should be automatic approvals and national standards, fill in the survey.

If there are parts of the process you think should remain, say so.

Upfront costs remain the biggest barrier to solar uptake and New Zealand is a long way behind other markets in terms of adoption. Lowering the cost of solar through more efficient processes means the number of potential customers will increase and we believe there are major productivity and profitability opportunities for the sector, many more jobs that could be created by improving the process and lower cost energy for more New Zealanders as a result of this work.

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Fill in the survey before midnight June 1 here

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