Warmer Kiwi Homes

In 2018 the Government introduced the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme (a four year programme making $142.5 million in grant funding available for insulation and heating). The programme provides grants to low-income households for insulation and heating retrofits, and is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). To be eligible for an insulation grant under this programme a person needs to own the home they live in, that home must have been built before 2008, and they need to have either a Community Services Card or live in an area identified as low income. Low income households are determined using the New Zealand Deprivation Index, a tool commonly used in health planning to define low-income areas. Houses located in deprivation areas rated 8, 9 and 10 are eligible for grants.The first year of the programme focussed on insulation as the highest priority for creating warm, dry homes, with grants for heating available from July 2019. The original aim was to insulate, or install a heater (some houses will receive both) 52,000 houses over the four years of the programme. In 2020 the programme was supplemented with an additional $56 million in funding which allows 9,000 additional houses to be retrofitted. The grants now cover 90% of the cost of getting insulation or a heater installed. The grant cap for heaters is $3000.

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