Call for top-up of insulation funds

ANDREW GORRIE/Dominion Post

IN DEMAND: Insulation installer Jeff Wallace (front) and William Pulman (rear left) installing insulation in the ceiling of a Upper Hutt home.

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The Government needs to top up funding of its popular energy efficiency grants to meet demand, a business lobby group says.

The government's target is to insulate 180,000 older homes in four years, but a poll by the Business Council for Sustainable Development suggests about 280,000 home owners may apply.

The poll also prompted concerns that the grants were being taken up more by the higher paid, prompting Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee to point out over half of the 8000 retrofits so far under the scheme had been for low-income owners.

However, the council said the poll included both those who had applied and those who intended to.

Council chief executive Peter Neilson said he was not trying to knock the $323 million Warm up NZ programme, "in fact, we're enthusiastic supporters of doing this, and all we want to do is make sure that nobody misses out".

Under the scheme, eligible community service cardholders and their landlords can get up to 60 per cent towards underfloor heating and insulation, while middle-income earners are entitled to a third of the cost up to $1300.

- © Fairfax NZ News