9. Question No. 9—Energy and ResourcesMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green) to the Minister of Energy and ResourcesQuestion No. 9—Energy and Resources9. MARAMA DAVIDSON (Green) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: How many more homes will be insulated with funding from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): Talofa lava Mr Speaker. The COVID response recovery funding is expected to result in an additional 9000 retrofits to be delivered in the next two years with all the associated health energy and employment benefits. This brings the total retrofits expected to be delivered under the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme to 71000. This shows the Government is committed to ensuring the programme reaches as many households as possible. Marama Davidson: How has the Government increased the support people can get to make their homes warm and dry? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: The Government will now fund 90 percent of the costs of an insulation and/or heating retrofit for low-income households. Previously the Government had been paying 67 percent of the costs and third-party providers in the community such as energy trusts sometimes paid the balance. Moving to 90 percent funding means that warmer drier homes will be in reach of more people. It also means the funding from third-party providers will go further. Marama Davidson: Will more home insulation help reduce respiratory illnesses such as childhood rheumatic fever which have increased in the Wellington region this year? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Yes. We know that cold damp overcrowded houses can increase the risk of respiratory illness and other preventable health conditions such as rheumatic fever. There is strong evidence of improved health outcomes resulting from warmer drier homes. This is why the Healthy Homes Initiative delivered by the Ministry of Health works closely with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) referring families who would benefit from a heating or insulation grant. A 2012 Motu report found that the insulation programmes like this have a cost-benefit ratio of 3:9 meaning that for every $1 invested we see almost $4 in health benefits and avoided costs. The ratio goes even higher where we target at the most vulnerable low-income households. Marama Davidson: Is the Government also helping people upgrade to new energy-efficient appliances and lighting? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Yes. EECA has a range of programmes which support greater energy efficiency in households and businesses. For example EECA works with the Australian Government under the Equipment Energy Efficiency—or E3—Programme to set energy performance and labelling requirements for appliances. Since 2002 this programme has saved over 50 petajoules of electricity equating to $1.23 billion of national benefit. It's also avoided 1.98 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. EECA is currently delivering a range of pilots around the country to explore the best ways to give away energy-efficient LED lighting into households including giveaways. The outcomes of these pilots will inform future EECA activity in this space and the Gen Less campaign funded by EECA in 2019 encourages households and businesses to get more out of less energy and provides information to help make energy-efficient purchases. SPEAKER: Before the member asks I'm going to let the member ask the question but my records do show that the Greens have used their allocation for the week. If I've got it wrong—I'll let the member ask. If I do have it wrong the Green Party will lose it from next week. Marama Davidson: I'll take my chances—thank you Mr Speaker. Does she have information about how many jobs could be created if the Government funded insulation for even more homes given there are around 600000 homes that are still too cold and damp? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: We've already heard from several Warmer Kiwi Homes providers that the additional funding announced through Budget 2020 has given them the confidence to start planning to take on more staff. While we can't be definitive at this stage what we are hearing from the Budget announcement is it will support at least 60 new jobs up and down the country. It logically follows that funding insulation for even more homes would support more jobs both directly for service providers and manufacturers but also indirectly as the need for support staff and other roles increases.