Energy Hardship Update - June 2021

Kia ora, welcome

Nau mai, haere mai ki Energy Hardship Update.

Thank you for signing up to receive this e-newsletter. This is our second edition, and we are pleased to bring you the latest updates on our work towards reducing energy hardship in Aotearoa.

What is the Energy Hardship Update?

This is a quarterly update on our energy hardship work and provides opportunities to share your views directly with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) Energy Markets Policy team.

In August last year, the government announced a $17 million four-year package for initiatives to reduce energy hardship for households and whānau, and to improve advocacy for residential and small business consumers. Progress was impacted by COVID-19, but all projects to deliver on the government’s response to the EPR are now back on track.

Going forward, we hope this e-news will paint a broad picture of energy hardship work, extending beyond MBIE, as well as offer opportunities for you to be involved.

Download the Electricity Price Review findings and recommendations [PDF 854 KB]

Call for nominations: interested in being on the Energy Hardship Reference Group?

We are now inviting nominations for our Energy Hardship Reference Group. MBIE is establishing this group to provide a forum to share information and encourage coordination across industry, NGOs, iwi/Māori and government agencies to help us better work together to shift the dial on energy hardship.

We are looking for representatives from organisations (including community organisations, consumer advocates, industry participants and regulators) with a diverse range of skills and perspectives, good connections to the kaupapa of reducing energy hardship, and who are interested in helping advise on and coordinate cohesive, cost-effective energy hardship initiatives. Key government agencies will also take part in the Reference Group.

The Reference Group will provide a forum for organisations and groups to share insights and updates on their work, and test their ideas. It will not be responsible for making decisions or delivering projects.

If you are interested in nominating either yourself or someone you know, please email energymarkets@mbie.govt.nz with the name of the nominee, a brief description of their interest and suitability for the role, and their contact details. If you are nominating someone else, please make sure you have their permission to put forward their name and details.

Nominations close 5pm, Friday 16 July. Thank you to all those who have already submitted nominations as part of an earlier call for Energy Hardship Expert Panel and Reference Group nominations. Rest assured these remain valid and will be considered. Some funding may be available, on application, to support participation by those from the not-for-profit sector.

All nominees will be assessed against the criteria by a panel from our team to identify the mix of people that best delivers a balanced and diverse range of perspectives, connections and skills. The size of the Reference Group is not yet determined. We are committed to ensuring it will represent a range of perspectives but are mindful it needs to be a workable size.

The Reference Group will interact with, and complement the work of the Energy Hardship Expert Panel (a Ministerially appointed independent group being formed to advise government) and other groups such as the newly formed Consumer Advocacy Council and ERANZ Consumer Care Working Group.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Funding for community energy education initiatives announced

About 65 people attended the ‘EnergyMate’ community hui in Porirua, run by ERANZ with funding support from the SEEC Programme.

Many more households experiencing energy hardship are in line to receive support this winter as nine community-level organisations receive government funding to pilot or expand energy education initiatives. The funding boost comes from the new Support for Energy Education in Communities (SEEC) Programme.

The nine recipients from the first funding round (totalling $1.26 million) were announced by the Energy and Resources Minister last month.

Beehive.govt.nz announcement - Government gives households extra help to reduce their power bills

Download the SEEC funding recipients [PDF 630 KB]

The projects that received funding from the first funding round are:

• ‘Anglican Care Energy Poverty Programme’, Anglican Care (Canterbury/Westland)
  Providing free in-home energy assessments and energy-efficient LED lightbulbs to households in high deprivation areas in Christchurch, Canterbury and Westland.
• ‘Eastern Bay of Plenty 20 Degrees Energy Hardship Collaboration’, Sustainability Options Limited
  Expanding the existing 20 Degrees initiative into the Eastern Bay of Plenty, and providing energy education, monitoring and energy-saving initiatives to households.
• ‘EnergyMate’, Electricity Retailers’ Association of New Zealand
  Providing free, personalised energy coaching and support through home visits and community hui. With the Government support, EnergyMate will expand its focus on households struggling with energy bills or keeping their homes warm in Māori and Pasifika communities across Aotearoa.
• ‘Fair Energy’, Sustainability Trust
  Providing an energy efficiency and advice service to low-income households in the Wellington region, plus free energy-saving equipment and devices, monitoring and follow-up support.
• ‘Healthy Home Interventions including Winter Warmer Pack Delivery’, Habitat for Humanity – Northern Region
  Delivering energy-efficiency programmes across the northern region and increasing delivery of Winter Warmer Packs to help low-income families in Greater Auckland and Northland.
• ‘King Country Energy Hardship Reducing Pilot Programme’, Ecobulb with King Country Electric Power Trust
  Providing free Ecobulb LEDs and shower heads, and offering in-home energy assessments to improve home energy efficiency in the King Country. 
• ‘Love Your Home 2021’, Community Energy Action Charitable Trust
  Providing in-home energy checks, home energy toolkits, community education and solutions to improve home energy efficiency in Mid-North Canterbury and the West Coast.
• ‘Supporting Affordable adVice in Energy (SAVE)’, Sustainable Taranaki
  Engaging widely with regional wellbeing organisations to provide personalised energy education and support for changing habits, energy-saving devices; and expanding the number and capability of trained advisors.
• ‘Te Hīhiko Ngāpuhi’, Te Pūtahi-nui-o-Rehua Charitable Trust
  Enabling whānau around Kaikohe marae and surrounding communities to participate in hands-on activities as part of a marae collective energy audit, and apply lessons to their individual homes. Findings will be shared at the marae, and follow-up visits to individual whare will allow further strategies and solutions to be implemented.

All of these projects are underway and MBIE is receiving regular progress reports. This information will help us build an understanding of the kinds of initiatives that can be most effective in supporting people experiencing energy hardship achieve warmer, more energy-efficient homes and lower energy bills.

In total, $7.91 million will be allocated through the SEEC Programme in regular funding rounds until 2024.

Find out more about the SEEC Programme.

SEEC Programme funding round 2 now open

The next round of SEEC funding opened earlier this week. About $1.65 million is available for this round. Applications close 5pm, Friday 30 July. Visit the SEEC webpage for more details on eligibility criteria and how to apply. 

Help us grow our new energy hardship initiatives stocktake

We are creating a stocktake of existing initiatives that combat energy hardship across Aotearoa. This stocktake is an important step in our work to link and expand existing support services into a nationwide network. This reflects a key aspect of the EPR’s energy hardship recommendations.

It will be available on the MBIE website and we hope it will be a useful resource for those looking for support services in their community or for ideas about expanding existing services in other communities. It will also be used to help the incoming Energy Hardship Expert Panel build an understanding of existing initiatives and identify any gaps in the network.

If you are involved in an initiative to combat energy hardship that you think should be added to this list before it becomes publicly available, email us at energymarkets@mbie.govt.nz with a short description of your initiative by Friday 16 July.  Please include a short description of the initiative, the name of organisation that runs it, contact details and a website or social media page if relevant.  If you are unsure whether the initiative works to alleviate energy hardship, please don’t hesitate to email us to check.

We would like to thank those who have already contributed to the stocktake. We will ensure only already publicly available information is shared in the list.

Māori to benefit from new renewable energy fund

Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods, who announced the projects with Associate Housing (Māori Housing) Minister Peeni Henare, said: “It’s wonderful to see these projects help set up families, marae, and small communities with the long-term benefits of things like solar panels as a low-cost, clean electricity source. These small-scale projects will generate approximately 700 KW of solar electricity and provide cheaper power to more than 200 households, with many using innovative micro-grid solutions.”

One project in Manawatū will install solar generation and large-scale batteries on four marae to power nearby houses through an innovative energy-sharing platform, targeting vulnerable households. Another project will install solar generation on homes tenanted by kaumātua and whānau with tamariki at risk of energy hardship in the Ngāi Tahu takiwa.

One of the goals of the fund is to build knowledge about the benefits of different renewable energy solutions in helping combat energy hardship.

MBIE and Kāinga Ora are collaborating on monitoring and evaluating the projects. Evidence and insights will be gathered on the performance and suitability of the renewable system to housing types and the regions they are in; the difference they make to energy affordability for participating households; and the households’ overall experiences from these technologies, particularly in respect to the residents’ health and wellbeing. The evidence and insights will inform a cost-benefit study, which will assist future decisions on larger-scale renewable energy projects.

Projects predominantly led by, or for, Māori-affiliated or Māori-run organisations were prioritised for funding.

Approximately $14 million has also been committed to fund renewable energy projects on public housing. This fund is being managed separately and funding announcements are expected in the coming months.

Download more information about the projects funded in round 1 here [PDF, 549 KB]

Information about future funding rounds will be available here.

MBIE’s Energy Hardship Forums held March/April 2021

More than 70 NGOs, consumer advocates, academics, industry participants, electricity retailers, regulators and iwi representatives attended one of MBIE’s Energy Hardship Forums held online recently. These forums were designed to share information and updates on MBIE’s energy hardship-related work, gather evidence and insights on the current state of energy hardship and discuss key issues and potential solutions.

Insights gathered will be shared with the incoming Energy Hardship Expert Panel to inform their work and advice to the government.

Key themes 

• Issues related to the quality, affordability and availability of housing (including papakāinga) and marae, and the energy efficiency of housing and appliances. 
• Social, environmental and health concerns associated with energy hardship.
• Wider hardship and the broader impacts of energy affordability.
• Issues within the energy market and its systems.
• Low energy literacy and education (including the loss of mātauranga Māori).
• Poor understanding of energy hardship and lack of available data.

What participants told us

We heard that energy hardship is being increasingly and unevenly felt across communities and regions. Particular population groups are disproportionately affected by the compounding impacts of electricity prices, complex and unfair electricity plans and tariffs, housing costs, and ongoing socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. Those more likely to be affected include: Māori and Pasifika communities, children, seniors, those suffering from physical and mental health issues, rural households, those who are unemployed, and people experiencing hardship more generally. Furthermore, groups already in hardship are likely to be left further behind as New Zealand looks to encourage increased electricity use as part of the wider push to move away from fossil fuels.

Participants told us the impacts of energy hardship have been softened by various government interventions over the last 18 months including: COVID-19 income support relief, the doubling of the Winter Energy Payment in 2020, Warmer Kiwi Homes insulation and heating retrofit programme, as well as the Healthy Homes Standards.

In addition, industry measures taken to relieve energy hardship, including free power deals and power credits, have provided some relief. More work is needed to understand energy hardship so interventions can be better targeted and expanded to include things like curtain installation, fixing broken windows and water cylinders, purchasing energy-efficient appliances, and energy-efficient retrofitting of marae and public housing.

The root causes of energy hardship – such as energy unaffordability, poor housing quality, low levels of energy literacy and energy efficiency – will need to be addressed by a mix of interventions delivered by the energy industry, government and NGOs. Participants suggested these could include a broad range of measures such as: reducing energy bills, further strengthening protections of vulnerable consumers, increasing investment in housing quality and energy efficient retrofitting of housing and marae, and increasing funding for community-led education and support.

During the forums it was raised that public housing was exempt from the Healthy Homes Standards. This is not the case, public housing will be required to comply by 1 July 2023
Read more information here  

Electricity Authority releases final draft consumer care guidelines

From 1 July 2021, the Electricity Authority’s (the Authority’s) new consumer care guidelines will replace the guidelines on arrangements to assist vulnerable consumers and medically dependent consumers.

Over the rest of the year, the Authority will facilitate the development of an updated emergency management plan, health practitioner notice, and information sheets to help power companies better support consumers.

The EPR recommended reviewing and strengthening existing voluntary guidelines as part of developing mandatory minimum standards that electricity retailers, distributors and others should meet when providing electricity or electricity-related services to vulnerable and medically dependent consumers.

The Authority earlier undertook a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process to gain consensus on a review of existing voluntary guidelines and to help develop updated guidelines. MBIE - alongside other government agencies, industry participants, social and support agencies, and consumer advocacy groups - was closely involved in the Authority’s collaborative process.

The updated guidelines will apply to all residential consumers. This recognises that anyone can experience vulnerability, which can be at various levels and at different times throughout their life. The new guidelines will be voluntary for electricity retailers, providing flexibility that will allow the guidelines to be fine-tuned in the future, if necessary. All retailers will be expected to fully align with them by the end of this year. If retailers don’t meet the voluntary guidelines, consideration will be given to making parts of the guidelines mandatory.

The Authority’s work to develop these guidelines complements MBIE’s wider work programme underway with initiatives to better support people in energy hardship.

See the Electricity Authority’s website for further information and updates.

Coming soon

Defining energy hardship discussion document for public consultation

We will soon be releasing a Defining Energy Hardship discussion document that outlines MBIE’s proposed definition of energy hardship and associated measures. More information about the discussion document and details on how you can provide feedback will be available on the Defining Energy Hardship webpage and open for feedback soon. The consultation will run for six weeks. Please email definingenergyhardship@mbie.govt.nz if you would like to be notified when the consultation opens.

View the Defining Energy Hardship webpage

Energy Hardship Expert Panel announced soon

We anticipate that the Minister of Energy and Resources will be announcing a Ministerially appointed, independent Energy Hardship Expert Panel in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for further information.

Find out more about the Energy Hardship Expert Panel

Key dates

•    Thursday 1 July 2021 – The Electricity Authority’s new consumer care guidelines come into effect
•    Friday 16 July 2021 – Deadline for contributing to the stocktake of existing energy hardship initiative
•    Friday 16 July 2021 – Nominations for the Energy Hardship Reference Group close
•    Friday 30 July 2021 – Round two SEEC Funding applications close

Find out more

See the Energy Hardship webpage for more information about our work and progress updates.

Contact us

We welcome any thoughts or questions about this area of work, and any interest you might have to be involved. For further information, please contact the Energy Markets Policy team by emailing energymarkets@mbie.govt.nz.

This update is brought to you by the Energy and Resource Markets (ERM) branch, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. ERM is the steward of two regulatory systems, the energy system and the Crown-owned mineral and petroleum system. These systems are connected – we need resources to make energy and we need energy to extract resources.