The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
New research from Rewiring America explores homeowner awareness and motivations for making the switch from fossil fuels to electric - and offer some helpful guidance for anyone looking to convince New Zealand homeowners to go electric.
An estimated 42 percent of the U.S.’s energy-related emissions that negatively contribute to climate change come from our homes and vehicles. It’s therefore clear the American public has an opportunity to take personal actions that can lead to positive changes for our families, our communities, our health and well-being, and our planet.
In a newly released mixed-methods research study of more than 5,000 homeowners, the Ad Council Research Institute (ACRI) partnered with Rewiring America to better understand the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of U.S. homeowners on electrification (or “going electric”), and test and optimize key messages and frames for future campaigns to influence them to switch from fossil fuels to electric. An accompanying toolkit provides optimized messaging and resources for communicators and marketers to use when speaking to homeowners about electrification.
Key findings from the study include:
“We want homeowners to get excited about going electric, so it’s delightful to see that this research points to some clear pathways for helping do just that," said Sarah Lazarovic, Rewiring America vice president, communications & creative strategy. “People love their homes and want to make them better, and they’re open to going electric for all kinds of reasons. Which is great, because we know that this is an incredible opportunity for Americans to improve their quality of life while protecting our shared future.”
“This study made it clear that there’s a practical approach to help build confidence among homeowners in going electric, most importantly through providing more education on the process and that can help alleviate barriers and biases,” said Derrick Feldmann, lead researcher and managing director of the Ad Council Research Institute. “Homeowners are open and optimistic about going electric; they simply need more information and resources along with motivation to help them make competent decisions.”
The Ad Council and Rewiring America aim to apply these findings to a national, fully integrated communications effort encouraging homeowners to adopt clean energy solutions in their homes. Download the report and the toolkit here.
In the last Electric Avenue of 2025, we look at the two biggest trends in the world of energy; the Government goes electric for its fancy fleet upgrade; Nick Offerman offers his services to a US campaign extolling the virtues of EVs; Australia shows what's possible in new homes when you add solar, batteries and smart tech; a start-up selling portable solar and battery systems that wants it to be as easy and common as wi-fi; and The Lines Company looks to put some solar on the roof of the Ōtorohanga Kiwi House.
Read moreDownloadWhen it comes to electric farming, "the numbers are becoming undeniable," says Nicholson Poultry's Jeff Collings. With 60kW of solar, a Nissan Leaf as a 'farm quad', electric mowers, an electric ute that can run a water blaster, and even a chicken manure scraper made out of a wrecked Tesla that, as Rewiring's Matt Newman says, looks a bit like something out of Mad Max, "almost everything is electric". There aren't many others in New Zealand who have gone this far down the electric road. And, with his electric Stark Varg, the fastest off-road motorbike in the world, he's obviously having plenty of fun on that road, too.
Read moreDownloadRNZ's Kate Newton reports on the "madness" of thousands of new piped gas connections being installed into houses every year, despite dwindling supplies and higher lifetime costs.
Casey said it was positive that the numbers showed people starting to leave the gas network of their own accord, but not all households were in a position to make that choice.
"If we don't plan for a decommissioning of the gas network, then it's going to be a chaotic transition, where vulnerable New Zealanders really suffer."
As the research of Rewiring and others has shown, gas is expensive, it's getting more expensive, it's terrible for your health when burned inside and there are substitutes available right now that, on average, do the same job for less money over the long run for households, would save the country billions on health costs and lost productivity, and don't pump out unnecessary emissions.
Around 300,000 homes and businesses have connections to the gas network (it’s estimated another 300,000 use more expensive bottled gas, mostly in the South Island). The number of active connections has started to decline recently and the country’s largest gas network, Vector, is forecasting no new residential or commercial connections after 2029.
Upfront capital costs are the main barrier for many homes, which is why we're working hard on a low-interest, long-term loan scheme that can be used to pay for electric upgrades, including hot water heat pumps. This would mean paying for a new thing with a loan would be cheaper than paying to run the old thing.
Read more about the scheme here.
Disconnection costs are also a major barrier. We have seen examples where households permanently disconnecting from the network have been charged between $1,000 and $2,000 to have a meter permanently removed (i.e. digging up the pipes to the road), even though it should only cost customers $200 to have the connection capped at the house.
RNZ even reported a case where a business customer was quoted $7,500 but took the case to Utilities Disputes, where complaints about disconnection costs have been rising.
The Australian Energy Regulator and the state of Victoria have now capped the disconnection fees to a few hundred dollars to stop this kind of behaviour and protect households.