Brown Peter: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brown Peter: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:646;Page:15044] 
7.  
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Energy 
: How many grants were made last year by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s loan subsidy scheme? 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Energy) 
: 
 EnergyWise grants to insulate homes were made to 9375 low-income families in the year to 30 June 2007. As far as the loan scheme—which was announced only in February this year—is concerned 11 partner organisations around New Zealand have signed up to join the scheme so far. That scheme will help middle-income families to reduce their energy costs by installing an efficient clean heating device and helping with insulation. These two programmes show the Labour-led Government is helping New Zealanders to adjust to the changes the world is going through by helping them to reduce their energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
Peter Brown 
: Does the Minister stand by the statement of the Government spokesperson on energy efficiency and conservation that the loan subsidy scheme initiative would increase the use of solar water heating in New Zealand; if so will he tell the House whether this has been achieved and to what degree? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Various variants of the loan-based scheme have been proposed by the partner organisations that the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is dealing with and it may well be that some of the products that those service organisations are promoting to their clients include solar hot-water heating. 
Peter Brown 
: Would the Minister agree with one installer of solar water heating systems who has approached New Zealand First and has stated: “The current $500 subsidy is less than 10 percent of the average solar system and is too small to encourage the average Kiwi to invest in solar.” and: “The current level of funding is treated as a bit of a joke when discussing solar with potential customers as they are stunned to find out that they cannot access this meagre grant unless they install a cheap system sourced from China.”? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Of course no one is forced to take the $500 subsidy and neither should they be. It is but one part of the programme. I think it is fair to say that we do need to look again at the criteria around the solar water heating grants programme. But I also think that although some of the other things that are being done to reduce building consent fees improve the training of those who are to install them and check that these systems work properly have been unpopular amongst some of those in the solar water heating industry they were none the less prudent steps to take. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Can the Minister confirm that far from encouraging only cheap systems the rules around the grant actually require a system to meet stringent quality standards which is one of the reasons that some suppliers are objecting and can he further confirm that there has been a big success with the builders of new homes around 15 of which have now signed up to programmes to install solar water heating in new homes in return for the grants and that this is incentivising the development of solar water heating in new homes? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Yes I can. In fact one of the things the Government contribution has gone into has been the testing of the viability of different systems and the proving of their cost effectiveness—and in some cases unfortunately the disproving of their cost effectiveness. In respect of new homes it is true that it is cheaper to put solar water heating into a new home as it is being built than it is to retrofit it in an existing home. That is one of the reasons why we have been encouraging more of the solar water heating systems to be installed in new homes. 
Peter Brown 
: Noting that answer and an earlier answer is the Minister open to a practical suggestion: will he consider scrapping the current threshold that was introduced in an attempt to force down the price of systems but is actually discouraging investment in good-quality solar systems; and additionally will he consider raising the subsidy to a more realistic level of $1500 or more to encourage a bigger swing to solar water heating including its installation in more existing homes; will he consider those two suggestions or is he wedded to the Greens’ approach which is the do nothing achieve nothing approach? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: As I said I think we need to look at the criteria again but I am not personally in favour of increasing the rate of subsidy. I think that money would be better spent on retrofitting insulation in more homes than it would be on increasing the subsidy.