Solar and energy newsSolar news

Power prices, buy-back rates, network rules and policy. What changed, and what it does to your power bill.

The roof of a New Zealand suburban house with solar panels, photographed from the street, with a row of election hoardings on the berm in front of it

Four parties, four solar promises, none of them law yet

Labour is promising a $3,000 kickstart. National is promising a loan. Neither is law, neither is money you can claim today, and both sit on a scheme Parliament has not passed. Here is what exists now, when the promises could land, and what waiting costs you.

19 July 2026Solar policyNews

Latest solar and energy news

A Fronius Primo solar inverter mounted on the wall of a New Zealand home garage, a homeowner's hand checking its display, with tools on a pegboard and a coiled hose nearby

The best buy-back rates are paid after dark

You've probably seen a 24c buy-back rate advertised. It's real. It's also paid at 7am and 6pm, when your roof is dark. We checked every retailer, and the rate that actually lands on your bill is the one nobody puts on the poster.

22 July 2026Buy-back ratesNews
A single-phase residential switchboard and export meter on the outside wall of a New Zealand weatherboard house, with rooftop solar panels visible above

Auckland and Wellington won't promise you 10kW

On 11 May 2026 the grid made 10kW the default for solar export. Most lines companies gave you a flat number. Auckland and Wellington gave you a probability instead, and here is what that probability is worth to you, in dollars.

21 July 2026Grid rulesNews
A wall-mounted home battery and inverter in the garage of a New Zealand weatherboard house, switchboard beside it, late afternoon light

Your power is worth more used than sold

New rules make the big retailers pay more for power you export at peak. The highest rate on a retailer's own page is 24c. You buy that same unit back for about 33c, so a stored kilowatt-hour is worth more used than sold, and the battery's case rests exactly where it always did.

20 July 2026Solar techNews
A New Zealand power bill on a kitchen bench beside a calculator and a mug, with the daily fixed charge line highlighted

Your power bill changes twice on 1 April 2027

Two things hit your power bill that morning, not one. Lines charges climb again, and the cap that held down low-user daily charges for twenty-three years is scrapped. The smallest homes feel it worst. And the awkward bit for a solar company to admit: half of it makes solar worth less, not more.

18 July 2026Power pricesNews

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