‘Economic slam dunk’: The cost of living hack that could get you an extra $1000 a year
Saturday, 30 May 2026
Most people hate looking at their power bill right now. But what if there was a way of bringing that bill right down?
Electricity advocate Mike Casey says the answer is solar power.
Casey is promoting a formula for Kiwis that he believes will have many households saving about $1000 a year through solar.
“It’s an economic slam dunk like we’ve never seen before,” he says. “It is the only substantial way that you can bring your power bills down.”
An extra $1000 a year: How the “Solar Slam Dunk” works
Casey is the chief executive of Rewiring Aotearoa, an independent advocacy group on a mission to make New Zealand more electric.
I asked him the question on everybody’s behalf: “Should you get… Solar?”
His answer: what he calls a “Lebron James slam dunk” of a yes.
Casey showed me how Rewiring Aotearoa had worked out that a Kiwi household could end up with an extra $1000 a year, just by putting in solar.
It goes like this:
- A Kiwi family with a busy home who use an above-average amount of power.
Installs solar for around $20,000.
They don’t have the money upfront - so put it on the mortgage.
Get an estimated annual power savings of around $2500.
Have annual mortgage repayment costs of $1500 to cover the solar.
Which means the family is left with $1000 savings.
(Full details of Rewiring Aotearoa’s calculation at the bottom of this article)
Rewiring Aotearoa is releasing the calculation to show homeowners the immediate benefit of getting solar - even if they have to take out a loan to pay for the panels.
Casey is New Zealand’s “Mr Solar” - he runs a cherry farm in Central Otago completely on electricity and was named Sustainability Leader of the Year at the Kiwibank awards.
“This is about how much we can save immediately in a cost of living crisis,” Casey says. “It’s a no brainer.”
Rising cost of living, rising power bills - is getting a loan to get solar the only way to fight back?
Over the past few years, residential power has increased by 20%. And there’s no sign of it slowing down either, Consumer NZ expects power prices to go up another 5% in 2026.
While New Zealanders can’t do much about the rising price of butter, fuel and houses, Casey says solar is one thing in our control.
But the biggest barrier to entry is the set up cost - remember, Casey says it costs around $20,000 to get solar set up on your roof.
“Me and you and every other New Zealander doesn't have that kind of money in our back pockets, right? So, we have to figure out how to finance it,” Casey says.
That’s why a key part of Casey’s message is that you don’t need to have the installation payment upfront in cash. You can put the solar on your mortgage, and even including payments, still walk away saving $1000 a year.
Casey has based his calculation on a mortgage repayment with 5.5% interest.
He says one option is getting a green loan that banks are offering cheap “green loans” at 1% interest to help you get solar - which means even greater savings.
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Like most New Zealanders, Director and Owner of Lightforce Solar John Harman used to dread checking the damage on his power bill each month. But now, after getting solar, checking the bill has become an addictive hobby.
“Normally my wife would say ‘oh, I'm scared to see the power because Johnny left the bloody heater on when we went out. But now she says she can’t wait to check the bill because we see how much we’ve earned from the roof.”
Not only has Harman’s powerbill halved, he’s also making money from exporting his solar power too.
“When you're not using the power, you export it to the grid, someone else uses it, say your neighbour, and you get paid for doing that,” he says. “We used to make about $1,000 to $2,000 a year.”
“Hacking the system”: Family of six saving hundreds on power
Mary Beattie recently bit the bullet and invested in solar. A family of six with endless loads of washing, showers and WiFi hogging, their power bill used to be $350-$400 a month.
But with solar, she's expecting to make money off the panels in summer by storing the unused power in a battery system and exporting it back to the grid. And in winter, she’s expecting to pay no more than $200 a month - roughly half of what she would usually pay.
“We've got the ability to be able to do it now, and we probably will benefit more from doing it earlier, so we did it,” she says. “But a big part of it was thinking long term and how we can tangibly help the planet.”
“But I have to admit, it’s just really fun watching the app to see how much power you are making and saving. It’s become a challenge to see how much we can hack the system.”
The advice she has for people looking into solar is to do your research about which company to go with, because “you get what you pay for”.
“If it feels too good to be true, it probably is,” she says. “We got a recommendation from someone we trusted.”
But what if you don’t own your home?
Solar panels are a great thing for homeowners and people who can afford panels or take out a loan. But for many New Zealanders, especially renters, this feels out of reach.
“For those that can't yet, that's what you and I need to focus on now,” Mike Casey tells me. “How do we make sure everyone can?”
One group who is looking into what solar could look like for renters is Queenstown Electrification Accelerator, a community-led electrification pilot project.
The Queenstown Electrification Accelerator is conducting a Solar for Renters trial to make low‑cost solar energy more accessible for residential and commercial renters.
This is how the trial works:
Landlords install solar on the rental property. There is no trial funding available, but properties in Queenstown Lakes District, Cromwell, and Alexandra can access a Solar and Battery Group Discount until 8 June.
The tenant pays for access to solar energy which is cheaper than power from the grid, reducing electricity bills.
Tenants pay for solar access through different payment options, giving landlords a return while still delivering tenant savings.
The result is a win-win: lower power bills for tenants and added value and income for landlords. You can find out more about the trial here.
Rewiring Aotearoa is also looking at how New Zealand can extend innovation to make sure all renters can benefit from solar power. To me it sounds like a no brainer all round.
Notes: Mike Casey and Rewiring Aotearoa’s workings for the $1000 calculation.
An above-average home using 10,000kWh/year - like a family that uses decent amount of heating or has an EV
Installs a 9kW solar system for around $20,000 ($17,500 to be precise)
Gets annual power bill savings of $2670 (a combination of saving on usage and selling back to the grid)
Pays annual finance repayments of $1492 (Based on adding solar to mortgage, 5.5% over 30 years)
Is left with $1178 extra.
A kW (Kilowatt) measures power—the rate at which electricity is used or generated at any given moment.
A kWh (Kilowatt-hour) measures energy—the total amount of electricity consumed or produced over a period of time
I am doing a series called Paddy Gower Does Stuff and I’m looking into Health next. If there are any issue or stories you have about health you think I should explore, email me on paddy@paddygower.kiwi
The partnership content label has been removed from this article as no commercial client had any involvement.