An update on MBIE Energy Market funds, SEEC programme independent evaluation results and the success of the Community Renewable Energy fund.
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MBIE Energy Use newsletter – December 2024
19 December 2024
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Welcome to this issue of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Energy Use newsletter. Thank you for subscribing to hear from us. In this newsletter we want to give you some important updates on our funds as we head into 2025.
Update on MBIE Energy Market funds
The administration for the Support for Energy Education in Communities (SEEC) programme and the Community Renewable Energy Fund (CREF) is moving to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). As you may be aware, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has administered SEEC and CREF since their inceptions. However, this is changing in February 2025.
Both MBIE and EECA hold responsibilities for the Governments energy priorities. MBIE’s core responsibilities are policy and oversight of the energy regulatory systems, while EECA’s is for delivery of information and programmes relating to energy efficiency, energy conservation and the use of renewable energy.
This change will enable greater efficiencies and alignment of SEEC and CREF with other energy funding programmes, which are primarily delivered by EECA. There are also opportunities to align these funds with other information provision and regulatory functions of EECA. This is an exciting time for the future of the funds, and we cannot wait to see what they achieve with EECA.
Current funding agreements with SEEC or CREF recipients will remain and be honoured as they are, however, there will be some changes to who you contact and how invoices will be paid. If you are a current recipient of either SEEC or CREF funding, MBIE will contact you directly with how these changes will impact you. Both agencies aim to make this transfer as smooth and undisruptive as possible for all recipients.
The Māori and Public Housing Renewable Energy Fund (MPHREF) will remain in the Energy Markets branch as the fund is nearing completion.
SEEC programme independent evaluation results
Earlier this year MBIE procured MartinJenkins to undertake an independent evaluation of our SEEC programme.
This evaluation was to provide a cost-benefit-analysis of the SEEC programme and provide insights into how the delivery of the SEEC programme could be improved. Below is a summary of some key highlights from the report:
SEEC delivers a positive return on investment
Every $1 invested in SEEC generates $1.70 in benefits, or a social return on investment of 14%. These figures include the co-funding leveraged by providers. If only government funding is considered then return is higher, with $2.21 in benefits or an annual return on investment of 21%. SEEC also performs well when compared to the benefit cost ratio (BCR) of other similar programmes, such as Warmer Kiwi Homes and the Healthy Homes Initiative.
SEEC activities, including providing energy education and advice, devices, and minor repairs, deliver unique value in their own right, but SEEC also generates additional referrals that would not have otherwise happened (for example to the Healthy Homes Initiative and Warmer Kiwi Homes). The energy education provided through SEEC also helps unlock additional benefits from other programmes. For example, showing people how to use their heat pump correctly helps maximise the benefits of heat pumps provided through other programmes (such as Warmer Kiwi Homes).
The evaluation made a number of recommendations to improve the delivery of the fund. The transfer of SEEC to EECA in early 2025 provides an excellent opportunity to consider these recommendations, while leveraging EECA’s existing fund delivery expertise.
If you would like to read the full report it is available on our website.
Read Evaluation of the Support for Energy Education in Communities programme report [PDF, 1.5 MB]
For those interested in applying for the 24/25 SEEC funding round, further information on this will be provided later in the new year once the programme has been transferred to EECA and the recommendations of the evaluation considered.
Success of the Community Renewable Energy Fund in 2024
As we close out 2024 we can look back on what we have achieved this year through the CREF. Solar panels and batteries are being installed on community buildings to boost energy resilience in areas affected by the 2023 North Island weather events. Cyclone Gabrielle and other extreme flooding across the upper North Island last year resulted in tens of thousands of households being without power, some of them for several weeks.
Through the Government’s Community Renewable Energy Fund, $6.5 million is being invested to install solar photovoltaic systems (solar PV) on up to 69 key community buildings across Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Tairāwhiti, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa.
These community buildings will have their own source of clean energy, effectively becoming a back-up supply for communities if there’s an outage on the national power grid. The sites have been selected with the help of local authorities, iwi, Civil Defence and other emergency response organisations.
To date, 28 marae, churches, community halls and schools are fully installed and operational. A further 37 are in the process of installing the new solar equipment, and installations scheduled to be completed in the next couple of months.
The community resilience sites installing the new solar systems can be found on our website.
List of funded projects – Community Renewable Energy Fund — MBIE
Funding available in 2025
The Minister for Energy has recently decided on new settings for the CREF. In 2025, non-contestable funding will be available from the CREF. The funding will focus on supporting community resilience in areas that have high natural hazard risk, remoteness and high electricity prices. This funding will enable solar and battery systems on approximately 145 community buildings across the country. The funding will not be contestable (meaning communities cannot apply) and only nominations from regional officials of sites that meet the criteria will be accepted. The fund will initially focus on Northland and Tairawhiti before expanding to other regions across New Zealand.
More information on this will be available early next year post the funds transition to EECA.
Picture: Te Poho o Rāwiri Marae in Tairawhiti
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 MBIE Energy Use team by emailing energyuse@mbie.govt.nz.
This update is brought to you by the Energy Markets branch, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
