The politicians have finally caught up on solar

Matt Ward - Harrisons Solar CEO

It's not often you see National, Labour and the Greens agreeing on much. But over the past month, that's exactly what has happened with solar.

On 25 June, National announced its Home Energy Fund - low-interest, long-term loans secured against your property and repaid through your rates over ten years or more, so households can put in solar, batteries, insulation and heat pumps without the big upfront cost. They also pledged to remove the need for council consent to put panels on your roof. Two weeks later, Labour came out with its own $160 million SolarSaver package. The Greens have said they'd happily help pass National's scheme into law before the election. Even NZ First is "quite interested".

Whoever you vote for this election, solar wins. That alone tells you something important: solar is no longer a political football. It's simply become a smart thing kiwis do - which regular readers will know is exactly where I've been saying we need to get to.

So here's my take on what National has put on the table:

The problem they're solving is real

Only around 3 percent of kiwi homes have solar. Australia is sitting at roughly a third. That gap isn't because the sun shines differently on their side of the Tasman - it's the upfront cost. From the hundreds of solar proposals I see each month, cost is the number one reason good people put the decision off.

National's scheme tackles that head on. The loan attaches to the property rather than the person, and you pay it back through your rates while the power savings land in your pocket. If you sell, the loan stays with the house - as it should, because the panels do too. The idea comes straight from the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme that Local Government New Zealand and Rewiring Aotearoa have been championing, and Rewiring's Mike Casey called it "the energy equivalent of KiwiSaver". Anyone who read my last article will know how much I enjoyed that comparison.

Keep it simple, stupid

My old English teacher's KISS rule applies to policy just as much as it applies to selling solar. KiwiSaver worked because you don't need a finance degree to join - it's simply accepted as a good thing to do. If the Home Energy Fund ends up wrapped in forms, equity tests and fine print, uptake will disappoint everyone. The target of 80,000 households over 15 years is a decent start, but honestly, I think demand will outrun it if the scheme is easy to use.

The consent change is the sleeper hit of the announcement. Chris Bishop shared an example of a council demanding a water discharge consent for panels because rain might run off them. That's precisely the sort of nonsense that makes ordinary kiwis give up before they start. Stripping it out costs the taxpayer nothing and removes real friction. More of that, please.

Don't wait for the politicians

Here's the thing though - an election promise is not a law. This business case has been sitting in front of the government for the better part of a year, and there's a decent argument it could have been moving already.

Meanwhile, the sun doesn't campaign and it doesn't caucus. The economics of solar already stack up today, right now, under the current rules. EECA's own analysis shows an average household can expect returns of around 10 percent a year - after tax, because there isn't any on power savings. As I've written before, that's ahead of even the best performing KiwiSaver growth funds. Most major banks already offer low or zero interest lending for solar. It's patchier than what's being proposed, sure, but it exists.

So if you're holding off going solar until after the election, I'd gently ask, why? The policy, whichever version we end up with, will be a welcome accelerant. But the fundamentals don't change on polling day. Every month you wait is another power bill you didn't need to pay in full.

The real headline

For me, the story isn't one party's announcement. It's that every major party now agrees solar on kiwi roofs is good for households, good for the grid and good for the country. The debate about whether solar makes sense is over. The only question left is how fast we get there.

If you're curious what solar would do for your place, book a free on-site assessment - we'll give you a proposal on the spot, and you can judge the numbers for yourself.

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