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Sustainable Homes

One in five households across New Zealand are in energy hardship and here in Hawke’s Bay we’re no different. That’s 15,000 local families that are living in cold, damp, unhealthy homes that they cannot afford to heat. Alongside these families are thousands more of us that are wasting money trying to heat cold, moist air, breathing in mould and getting sick due to the sorry state of our homes.

Sustainable Homes

The amount of Hawke's Bay homes facing hardship is not okay. So we've gone out, and alongside Community Energy Network have secured a partnership with Meridian Energy and Powershop to support their customers that are in energy-hardship, by offering free in-home assessments and providing real improvements to homes, from new curtains, to heat pumps, LED lightbulbs, window moisture vacuums and more. This partnership will make a real, meaningful difference to the lives of thousands of people across Hawke’s Bay.

For non-Meridian/Powershop customers, we’d love to see your power company supporting Hawke’s Bay too, and believe us when we say, we’re working on bring more companies on board! But in the meantime, we encourage you to reach out to them, tell them about the Meridian programme, tell them your story and why they should launch their own programme in the Bay.

In the meantime, from late 2025 we’ll be offering a paid service for Hawke’s Bay households, in which our in-home assessors will come to you, check your insulation, ventilation, water pressure, light bulbs, explain your power bill and support you to assess if you could save money by changing providers.

Meridian Energy & Powershop Partnership

Sustainable Hawke’s Bay have secured a partnership with Meridian Energy that will offer free energy in-home assessments and where appropriate interventions – inc. curtains, heaters, insultation and heat pumps. This programme has a social return on investment of $1:$5.20, that’s $5.20 of benefit to New Zealand for every $1 invested by Meridian Energy.

Eligibility

  • Have been a Meridian Energy or Powershop customer for the last 6 months.
  • And, are struggling or may soon be struggling to pay your power bills, or are using less power than you need due to financial constraints.

If you believe that you meet these criteria, please visit the following links and speak to the Meridian Energy and Powershop wellbeing teams who will discuss your options, and suitability to be supported by Sustainable Hawke’s Bay.

Private Households

While Sustainable HB has funding to support households through the Meridian Energy programme, we are also intending to offer a paid in-home assessment services to the wider community.

Households will receive support to identify ways to reduce the cold and damp conditions of their home, reduce power bills, and implement easy to deliver improvements that improve whānau health.

We expect this service to launch in the second half of 2025.

If you are interested in speaking to our Sustainable Homes Team, please reach out to info@sustainablehb.org.nz