Solar Saver scheme gets under way
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Solar hot water is coming to 200 Nelson homes after a ballot yesterday for the first to qualify under the Nelson City Council's Solar Saver scheme.
Under the new scheme, the council will meet the cost of installing the system and the home owner will pay it back, including interest, as part of their rates over a period of up to 10 years, while benefiting from lower power bills.
The ballot was oversubscribed, with 387 households wanting to be picked for the first year of installations.
Yesterday, Mayor Kerry Marshall, Deputy Mayor Rachel Reese and council environmental policy manager Martin Workman drew the 200 successful names under the watchful eye of Nelson police inspector Brian McGurk.
The ballot winners were being notified today and those who missed out would get first priority for the next round of 500 installations in July, said Mr Workman.
Alternatively, they could go ahead themselves without the council loan and take advantage of the competitive pricing the council had negotiated. "No doubt, some will be disappointed, but if they are patient, there will be a further chance next year. We're very pleased at the level of interest."
Mr Marshall said that with talks about cutting carbon emissions about to get under way in Copenhagen, Nelsonians could feel proud of how much difference the new scheme was set to make locally.
"By changing 1700 houses to solar hot water in the first four years of Solar Saver, we'll save 768 tonnes CO2 annually.
"If all Nelson households made the switch, we would save a massive 7680 tonnes a year."
The council will install solar hot-water systems in the Montgomery Square Superloo and Riverside Pool. The city's parking meters already run on solar power.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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With the interest rate here (although very good) slightly higher than current home loan rates I think it would be great if banks could talk with the scheme providers and eventually join in by offering a similar loan secured to the property. That way more than 200 people a year could benefit from this. I'm sure they could even fix the rate to match what the council is offering.