Rewiring Aotearoa has launched a new household electrification calculator that shows New Zealanders how much money they can save on bills by upgrading to electric machines, how much it will cost to upgrade them, and what impact it will have on their emissions. 

The calculator - which factors in things like the types of heaters you have, how much your household drives, how many people there are in the house and where in the country you are - makes power personal and shows what individual households could be saving if they go electric.

It also includes the savings on offer for homes that invest in rooftop solar and batteries.

“Every household has different energy needs and is at a different stage of their electrification journey, but electrification will help all households in some way, whether it’s economic, environmental or health reasons," says Mike Casey, Rewiring Aotearoa CEO. "Some households drive less and others may use more hot water, so the averages we use for our research to show overall economic trends and the broad household electrification guides may not feel relevant to their particular situation. Our calculator lets you plug in your own numbers, see the savings and find out how to make it happen and we think it will be a very useful tool for those hoping to quantify what’s in it for them.” 

For households that have already upgraded some of their fossil fuel machines to cheaper, more efficient and cleaner electric equivalents, the calculator will give you helpful advice on where to focus next for the biggest economic and environmental impact. 

“And if you’ve already electrified everything, share the calculator around. Maybe you could even show it to your grumpy uncle after the Christmas lunch because even grumpy uncles love saving money,” says Casey. “There are also lots of other ways that you can help maintain the momentum and have an impact outside your own home, like joining or starting a local community group and spreading the word in your area.” 

How to heat the water, keep the place warm, cook the food and get around are 'dinner table decisions', says Casey, and a surprisingly large chunk of New Zealand’s domestic emissions can be linked back to these decisions and the fossil fuel machines we still have in our homes and on our roads.

“They could be replaced tomorrow with more efficient electric equivalents and fuelled with rooftop solar, batteries and the grid. As this calculator shows, it's a massive a win-win because it is likely to save most New Zealanders money and be the biggest thing those households can do to reduce their emissions. When you add all our households up, there’s an $11 billion a year opportunity for New Zealand, and that’s why our mission at Rewiring Aotearoa is to electrify as many of them as possible by 2030.”

• Test out the calculator here

‍