Earlier Winter Energy Payment a modest positive for Southland pensioners

Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Grey Power Southland office manager Stephnie De Ruyter said the Winter Energy Payment assistance was modest but still helps those dependent on superannuation.

Grey Power Southland believe additional help for pensioners to cover power bills will make a positive difference to elderly struggling on superannuation.

The Winter Energy Payment scheme was introduced last year which granted pensioners and beneficiaries between $20 and $32 a week extra to cover power costs in the winter months.

Single people with no dependent children received an extra $20.46 and couples and people with dependent children received $31.82.

This year the payment will be available at the start of this month instead of the start of July when it was offered last year.

Grey Power Southland secretary Stephnie De Ruyter said the winter payment was a modest contribution but made a significant difference.

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While for some people the payment doesn't affect them, those dependent on the superannuation, the additional funding was important, she said.

NZ superannuation payment for single people who live alone is $950 before tax a fortnight, and $750.84 before tax for couples who both qualify.

For a single person this equates to $411.15 a week after tax.

'The $400 superannuation payment is not a generous payment and energy bills can take a large chunk from that money,' De Ruyter said.

'If you add the additional costs that come with being an elderly person and think of a $400 income while trying to keep warm, it doesn't stretch quite far enough,' she said.

Although the assistance helps, De Ruyter did not think the payment would get elderly reliant on superannuation out of energy poverty - when the cost of power is more than 10 per cent of income.

The fixed rate for the use of power lines meant that pensioners still have big power bills without using much electricity, De Ruyter said.

'I have people coming in here that are using very little power but for the privilege of being connected they have to pay a significant monthly fee,' she said.

Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the payment was not the only thing the Government was doing to prevent energy poverty.

Warmer Kiwi Homes, insulation grants and the 2017 Healthy Homes Guarantee Act were some of the initiatives Sepuloni mentioned.

The home insulation grants cover two-thirds of the cost of ceiling and underfloor insulation.

However, the issue for people dependent on superannuation was they don't have any money to put towards the remainder cost of insulation after the grant, De Ruyter said.

De Ruyter believes superannuation needs to be raised to meet with the cost of living.

'There is no doubt that superannuation has slipped below of what you might expect it to be as a percentage of the average wage.

'Living costs have gone up, health costs have gone up, superannuation hasn't matched it,' she said.