The convincing case for electrifying your life

Saturday, 8 November 2025

Six good decisions in the next 15 years hold the key for people to cut their own cost of living and lower their household emissions, a renewable energy specialist says.

Mike Casey, the CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, favours a DIY approach to tackling both issues.

The economic benefits of electrification made it worthwhile even before the environmental and energy security aspects were considered, he said.

Casey is an entrepreneur and cherry orchardist from Central Otago who has electrified all the machines on his farm and demonstrated how the transition away from diesel can save farmers tens of thousands each year and significantly reduce emissions.

He is also the CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, a New Zealand charity dedicated to electrifying millions of fossil fuel machines across the motu as quickly as possible.

He is in Taranaki to speak about electrifying homes and farms at workshops on November 10 as part of Sustainable Taranaki’s Builds and Farms trails.

“Climate action to date has been focused at other people and blaming them for things. I want you to make six good decisions in the next 15 years,” he said.

“It’s about what’s in your home - electric hot water, heating, cooking and driving, and batteries - to make you more resilient and make it cheaper.

“Every part that you electrify, you save money. There’s an upfront cost but significant long term benefits.”

On average, homes currently using gas appliances and petrol vehicles could save around $1500 per year (and around $4500 per year if they can get a low interest loan) if they choose electric equivalents and get their electricity from a combination of rooftop solar, home battery and New Zealand’s highly renewable grid.

A solar array costs around $10,000 for a medium-sized installation which provides approximately half of the energy needs for an average household (without EVs).

For households with EVs, larger installations could be worthwhile.

A home battery can store solar generated electricity to be used within the home when it’s dark outside. These can be installed in NZ homes for around $7000 to $14,000, and may be financed at a low interest rate using a green home loan.

And individuals’ climate action, such as driving an electric vehicle, was also good for national prosperity.

“We spend $55 million a day at the pump on fossil fuels, most of which comes from overseas,” he said.

“That’s $55m coming out of kiwis’ bank accounts, Kiwi communities and mostly going overseas.”

Electric vehicles could be charged for free with rooftop solar, the cheapest source of energy a household can use, with zero emissions, he said.

The government-backed Genless website states solar panels can pay themselves off in around eight years, then deliver free energy for the next 20.

Including the upfront costs, divided over the 30-year lifetime of the solar panels, electricity from rooftop solar works out about 75% cheaper than electricity purchased from the grid (6c/kWh compared to 24c/kWh) when finance costs are excluded, it said.

A selection of banks offer “green” loans at 1% or 0% for several years.

But even as part of a standard mortgage, electrifying made sense, Casey said.

“If you finance a solar system on your roof at 5.5%, the savings in your solar system will cover the interest and capital cost and still save you $1000 a year. That’s a $1000 pay rise for everyone in New Zealand just for financing solar panels on your rooftop.

“Batteries don’t pay for themselves yet, but all of a sudden you have free resilience, you can generate and store electricity, and that $1000 savings will pay for the battery and give you free resilience.

“It’s an economic slam dunk.”

Switching to electric vehicles for day-to-day use was part of the picture, but Casey said he did not urge car enthusiasts to give up their passion.

“You don’t have a V8 for economic reasons, you have it because it’s a hobby and you love it. But it’s probably your Sunday car, so the EV should be there for all your daily stuff,” he said.

“People have to do what they love. In this world full of pain and angst and anxiety, hobbies are important.”

Although the Government reduced some financial incentives by removing the Clean Car Discount scheme and introducing road user charges for light electric vehicles, it is supporting EV drivers with a target of a network of 10,000 public EV charging points by 2030.

It also introduced some beneficial business tax changes.

The move to electrify could be a step-by-step process, Casey said.

“When your car breaks down or you want a new car, it should be electric. If your gas hot water system breaks, ideally you’d install a hot water heat pump.

“If you have four teenage daughters with long hair and you all shower every day, electrifying your hot water would be the most efficient first step,” he said.

But the cost of bottled gas for water heating had risen so much, it made financial sense to replace it anyway, he said.

“Even if you installed your gas hot water system yesterday, you’re better ripping it out and replacing with a hot water heat pump on your mortgage at 5.5%, that’s how nuts it’s become.”

Casey said he was keen to see New Zealand having a “mature conversation” about how those on low incomes, who can’t access the finance to electrify, and renters could be helped to be able to get the benefits.

“Anything the Government trials is a sideways jump for the consumer. If they break up the gentailers will bills come down? Probably not. Building LNG storage won’t lower bills.”

Government efforts would be better focused on assisting those who don’t have the income to finance electrifying their lives, as those in the middle income and above could manage the transition themselves, he said.

“The big issue we need to solve is not asking the Government to fix everything, instead they should make sure the low income whānau can also afford to put solar in.”

Households and farms doing what was best for their wallets had benefits for the whole country.

“If we electrified all the machines in NZ that could be electrified by 2040, NZ’s emissions would drop by 25%, it would be the most rapid way to reduce emissions in NZ.”

Taranaki Federated Farmers president Leedom Gibbs said there was a good case for farmers to go solar.

Gibbs is part of the Taranaki Rural Energy Project, a collaboration between Federated Farmers, Taranaki Catchment Communities, Taranaki Regional Council and regional development agency Venture Taranaki, which heard from Casey last year.

“I am thinking about it, I need some generation options for when I lose power,” she said.

But it was important to get good advice about the practical aspects.

“One fishhook around everybody doing it is whether or not you can sell back to the grid, that’s not always viable or possible, and whether or not a battery is an alternative option for your farm,” she said.

“There is some very good tech now and some really good advisers and companies around.”

The government’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is encouraging farmers to look to solar solar and battery energy systems to reduce on-farm costs, improve energy resilience, and drive long-term energy security.

It is currently running a demonstration programme where a number of farmers received assistance of up to 40% of the cost to install solar systems, then will share their experiences and data to help shape best practice guidance for different farm types.

* Casey is speaking at two events at Novotel in New Plymouth on November 10.

The first event, Electrify My Farm, which includes a free lunch for farmers ($15 for others) is from 12.30 to 2.30 at Novotel in New Plymouth.

Then from 5.30 to 8pm, he is speaking at Electrify My Whare, with Community Energy Taranaki, a NPDC sustainability adviser and Community Energy Activator team led by AraAke and PowerCo. Both events cost $15. Book at www.sustainablebackyards.org.nz