Kiwibank offers energy use check-up

Kiwibank is offering to tell Christchurch buyers how well their homes use energy.

Monday, August 19th 2013, 12:00AM

by The Landlord

It is offering free “energy audits” for people who take out new Kiwibank home loans.

Canterbury Growth General Manager Tracey Berry said the bank was working with Community Energy Action to offer the service as a contribution to the rebuild in Canterbury after the earthquakes.

“Kiwibank will pay for a qualified energy efficiency expert to assess the home that a customer is purchasing or refinancing to Kiwibank. The assessor will visit the home and look at items such as the insulation, water and space heating, lighting, glazing and ventilation. They will then make recommendations to improve the performance of the home and will also advise if any subsidies are available. “

She said recommendations could include things such as the need for as better insulation, improved space and water heating and more efficient lighting.

Purchasers would be given a list of recommendations in order of priority so they could decide what would need to be done first.

“The cost of energy efficiency recommendations will be assessed and home buyers may be able to add the estimated costs to their loan application or put them into a bucket list to achieve over time,” Berry said.

For new homes, the energy audit can be carried out based on plans before construction, when making changes is cheapest.

Berry said assessors could make recommendations on the use of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic electricity generation, solar water heating and ground source heat pumps and customers could access Kiwibank’s sustainability loans to help pay for it.

« REINZ sells headquarters

Free Investment Property Showcase Events: Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch »

Special Offers