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

If you are sitting on a couple of solar quotes and wondering whether to hold off for a government subsidy before you sign, here is the honest answer: there is nothing to wait for.

The number of government grants for household solar panels you can apply for in New Zealand today is zero. Not "small", not "means-tested". Zero. Anyone telling you a subsidy is about to land and you should sign tonight is describing a policy that is not law, from a party that has not won an election that has not been held.

Key Points

• Right now there is no government solar grant, rebate or feed-in tariff in New Zealand. Zero you can apply for.
• Four parties have put solar money on the table for the 7 November election: Labour and National with dated loan mechanics, the Greens with a $980m package announced on 20 July, and none of it passed into law.
• Labour is promising a kickstart subsidy of up to $3,000. National is promising a low-interest loan repaid through your rates, not a grant.
• Both of the big promises lean on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, which Parliament has not passed.
• Waiting for a subsidy is realistically about 18 months, and on EECA's own figures that costs you roughly $1,500 in savings you would otherwise have banked.

There is no solar subsidy in New Zealand today

No national grant, no rebate, no feed-in tariff. EECA's page on home solar costs and savings lists bank loans and nothing else. Warmer Kiwi Homes co-funds insulation, a heat pump and LED downlights, but not a single solar panel. The one real government solar grant this year, Solar on Schools, is $30 million for up to 500 schools between 2026 and 2028: nothing for your roof. Today only your bank and your power company pay you anything toward solar.

One disclosure before the arithmetic: Solar Scout gets paid by installers when we introduce them to a homeowner, so if you wait we do not get paid. To stay honest we have used the government's own figures rather than an installer's, the bottom of EECA's savings range rather than the top, and left in the one scenario where waiting wins.

What you can actually get today

There are four banks offering discounted green lending that covers solar, all on EECA's home energy loans page, re-verified 14 July 2026, with each bank's terms re-checked on its own product page in August 2026.

EECA counts solar panels, batteries and inverters, or solar hot water. Kiwibank is not on EECA's list, but its Sustainable Energy Loan pays a $2,000 cashback over four years, at the standard variable rate. The catch runs through the whole table: every one is a top-up on a home loan you already hold with that bank, which rules out mortgage-free retirees, anyone who banks elsewhere, and renters. Labour reckons four out of five households cannot reach this finance; we could not verify that ratio, so treat it as Labour's claim, though the structural catch is real.

Every one of those loans, with its current rate, cap and conditions, is compared on our green loans page.

The other thing you can claim today has nothing to do with the government: what your power company pays you for the power you export, which varies more between retailers than anything any party has promised. Here is every retailer's buy-back rate.

We take the parties below in order of how much detail each has published, not our view or any poll. We report no polling.

Labour: SolarSaver, $160m and a $3,000 kickstart

Labour announced SolarSaver on 8 July 2026, and every figure here is off Labour's own SolarSaver page, re-verified 14 July 2026. It "costs $160 million over four years, funded by repurposing the Government's Gas Security of Supply fund". The centrepiece is a "kickstart subsidy of up to $3,000" for low and middle income households, renters included: Labour calls it a subsidy, not a grant, with no repayment. Alongside it sit a lines company loan repaid through your power bill, the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme (a loan attached to the property), and a $30 million community battery fund. An independent breakdown shows a chunk of that $160 million is scaffolding, EECA delivery and workforce training, rather than subsidy.

Two unpublished things matter more than the total. There is no income threshold, so you cannot check today whether you would qualify, the single biggest unknown here. And reporting cannot agree whether the $3,000 is repayable: Labour's page, RNZ and Stuff call it a subsidy, the NZ Herald a loan. The $750 and $1,000-a-year figures you will see are independent modelling from SEANZ and Rewiring Aotearoa on a larger 8 kilowatt system: projections, not savings.

The renter-facing part is plug-in solar, a two-panel kit Labour says "costs around $1,500, saves $300 to $400 a year". The catch, and the strongest verified fact here: plug-in "balcony" solar is currently illegal in New Zealand, because WorkSafe has prohibited the inverters these kits use, and Energy Minister Simeon Brown says making them legal takes about 12 months of standards work. Since then the Ministry for Regulation's 30 July 2026 review recommended legalising plug-in solar, with nine to 12 months of secondary legislation, and on 17 August 2026 Cabinet agreed to "continue work to enable plug-in solar". So the plug-in part of Labour's promise is being started by the current government, and it is still illegal today.

National: the Home Energy Fund is a loan, not a grant

National's pitch, announced 25 June 2026, is the Home Energy Fund, and it is a loan, not a grant: low-interest, long-term, repaid through your rates, no cash handout. Two conditions matter: your council has to opt in, and that is voluntary, so ratepayers in councils that do not join miss out; and you need 20% equity in your home, the same test a bank applies.

The Crown chips in $7 million for a 20% shareholding, with LGNZ expecting around $30 million to flow into the fund. National's page says repayment over ten years (Luxon has said ten or fifteen) and promises "low, competitive interest rates" with no figure; the roughly 3.8% used here is our estimate from LGNZ's claim of 2% to 2.5% below floating rates (near 5.8%), not National's number. It covers solar, batteries, insulation and heat pumps, and National would scrap the remaining council-consent rules for solar, though the government already cleared most of that from 1 October 2025. National expects 80,000 households over 15 years, about 5,300 a year.

One outlet asked what the fund offers that you cannot already get: access, not price. It is not cheaper than a green loan, it is available to more people. Put $11,500 on the table, EECA's typical installed cost for a 5kW system, and line the two up.

The fair point is cash flow: Westpac's 0% costs about $192 a month, National's about $84 for three times as long, so a household that cannot find $192 a month can still service the dearer loan. A wider door, not a cheaper one.

Both Labour's second loan route and National's entire fund run on the same plumbing: the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. LGNZ describes it as "a new local government-led, low-cost loan scheme" with solar in scope, priced "typically 2% to 2.5% below equivalent bank floating mortgage rates" (LGNZ's claim, not a regulated rate). The business case is now with the government; without enabling legislation it cannot run, the clearest reason nothing on this page is claimable in 2026. Since then: 24 councils have given non-binding in-principle support (Kāpiti Coast joined 23 others on 3 September 2026); the business case sits with Local Government Minister Simon Watts, who told Newsroom in July it "is not something that could realistically be done before the election"; no bill was introduced before Parliament was dissolved on 1 October 2026; and on 15 October 2026 Chris Hipkins committed Labour to the full three-part scheme, rates postponement and development contributions as well as the property loans, at LGNZ's conference in Rotorua.

The Greens and the smaller parties

The Greens' 2026 package arrived on 20 July: KiwiPower, a $980 million public power entity funded from the party's proposed wealth tax, with zero-interest loans for solar and batteries for up to 90% of homeowners, $460 million to put solar on more than half of public homes within four years, $200 million for community energy, $80 million for Māori housing, legal plug-in solar and a renters' right to solar, all on the party's policy page. There is no grant in it, and the loan scheme is not costed in any source we could verify, so the 2023 Clean Power Payment figures ($6,000 grants, $30,000 interest-free loans) are history, not policy. On 8 July 2026 the Greens called on Parliament to pass the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme before the House rose, offering "our 15 votes". It rose without passing it, and was dissolved on 1 October.

ACT openly opposes solar subsidies. Energy spokesperson Simon Court, put to RNZ: "ACT believes that if solar stacks up, Kiwis are going to invest without handouts." A real argument: a subsidy mostly pays people who were going to buy anyway. The counter, at equal strength: solar sits on roughly 1 in 35 New Zealand households, while in Australia, after about A$11.5 billion in grants that cut the upfront cost by around 30%, it is closer to 1 in 3, though Australia also has more sun, higher prices and a two-decade head start. ACT's 18 September 2026 electricity policy has no subsidy or loan in it: households could sell surplus power to any buyer at market prices, the gentailers stay whole, and private money is let into transmission.

NZ First: we could not locate a 2026 rooftop solar policy. Deputy leader Shane Jones told RNZ he was "quite interested" in the council loan scheme, but told Rewiring Aotearoa he is "very leery of creating a subsidy trap". Te Pāti Māori has previously floated a $1 billion Pūngao Auaha fund for Māori-owned community energy, plus solar on marae, kura and papakāinga, but that sourcing is from September 2023 and we found no 2026 restatement. Newsroom's September survey of the parties found the same: NZ First and Te Pāti Māori "did not provide specific policies at this stage but are generally supportive", while NZ First campaigns on breaking up the gentailers rather than on household solar.

What the current government did when it looked at this

The best guide to how long these promises take is the last three years. Ministers looked hard at Australia's grant model and decided not to copy it. Officials told them the up-front costs "take time to pay back", while noting that rebates accelerate uptake. What got done instead, from 1 October 2025: a no-consent clarification, fast-tracked consents for solar new-builds, and wider permitted voltage for export, tweaks officials rated "not clear and expected to be minor". Told by its own officials that rebates work, a government three years in office still chose not to have one. Two things are now in force that were not in July: since 1 October 2026 the Electricity Authority's Code obliges the big retailers that had not already done so to offer plans whose price changes through the day for both what you use and what you export, with no minimum export price; and the 17 August 2026 Cabinet package to cut the installs needing resource consent, clarify the building rules and explore risk-based inspections, with approval for a standard install expected to fall from ten working days to the next working day.

The constraint none of the four policies mentions

None of the four policies mentions the one thing that actually caps what your roof can earn: your network's export limit, set by your lines company, varying from network to network, and applying whoever wins in November.

Solar export limits offered by all 30 New Zealand lines companies. The four exceptions show first; the 26 that offer the default 10kW open from the “show all” control. Verified 21 October 2026.

Lines company	Single phase	Status	What it means	Source
Vector	Up to 10kW	Dynamic limit	Offers up to 10kW through a dynamic export limit that flexes with network conditions.	Source for Vector
Wellington Electricity	No flat figure	Dynamic limit	Uses flexible export pricing from May 2026 rather than a fixed 10kW, and exports above the published threshold can attract a congestion charge.	Source for Wellington Electricity
EA Networks (Ashburton)	10kW+	Case by case	Up to 10kW on compliant single-phase connections, subject to capacity and a technical assessment; it says 10kW is not a default and limits export in congested areas such as Methven and Rakaia.	Source for EA Networks (Ashburton)
Horizon Networks	No flat figure	Still working towards it	Publishes no export limit of its own, so confirm it with Horizon; distributors must offer a default 10kW export where they can from 11 May 2026.	Source for Horizon Networks
Alpine Energy	10kW	Default 10kW	Raised its default residential export limit from 5kW to 10kW on 1 May 2026, with lower limits where the network is under pressure.	Source for Alpine Energy
Aurora Energy	10kW	Default 10kW	Single-phase homes can export up to 10kW, in place since 1 August 2025.	Source for Aurora Energy
Buller Electricity	10kW	Default 10kW	A standard export threshold of 10kW per connection, with no identified areas of export congestion.	Source for Buller Electricity
Centralines	10kW	Default 10kW	Raised its fast-track export limit for single-phase homes from 5kW to 10kW in November 2025, subject to local network capacity.	Source for Centralines
Counties Energy	10kW	Default 10kW	Publishes no export figure of its own, so the national 10kW default applies, and it names export constraints around Pukekohe, Tuakau, Pokeno and Awhitu.	Source for Counties Energy
Electra	10kW	Default 10kW	Listed at a default 10kW by the Electricity Authority in May 2026, but its own connection policy, dated October 2025, still says 5kW for single-phase homes, so confirm the limit for your address.	Source for Electra
Electricity Invercargill	10kW	Default 10kW	PowerNet has accepted 10kW export applications since 16 March 2026, subject to local network capacity.	Source for Electricity Invercargill
Firstlight Network	10kW	Default 10kW	Publishes no export figure of its own; connections under 10kW go through on the regulated terms, under the national 10kW default.	Source for Firstlight Network
Lakeland Network	10kW	Default 10kW	PowerNet has accepted 10kW export applications since 16 March 2026, subject to local network capacity.	Source for Lakeland Network
MainPower	10kW	Default 10kW	Offers 10kW export on single phase connections, with three phase assessed case by case.	Source for MainPower
Marlborough Lines	10kW	Default 10kW	Default 10kW export from 11 May 2026, dropping to 5kW in constrained areas and 2kW on SWER lines.	Source for Marlborough Lines
Nelson Electricity	10kW	Default 10kW	Merged into Network Tasman on 31 March 2026; solar connections in the old Nelson Electricity area now follow Network Tasman's process.	Source for Nelson Electricity
Network Tasman	10kW	Default 10kW	Default 10kW export, though some areas are at solar hosting capacity and may have export restrictions.	Source for Network Tasman
Network Waitaki	10kW	Default 10kW	Homes can connect systems of up to 10kW on a single-phase supply, subject to approval.	Source for Network Waitaki
Northpower	10kW	Default 10kW	Doubled its default solar export limit to 10kW.	Source for Northpower
Orion	10kW	Default 10kW	10kW unless your connection is on Orion's published list of constrained ICPs (as at 15 September 2026); more than 10kW per phase is assessed case by case.	Source for Orion
OtagoNet	10kW	Default 10kW	PowerNet has accepted 10kW export applications since 16 March 2026, subject to local network capacity.	Source for OtagoNet
Powerco	10kW	Default 10kW	Raised its single-phase export limit from 5kW to 10kW, subject to available capacity, and lists the transformers where export is constrained.	Source for Powerco
Scanpower	10kW	Default 10kW	Allows export of up to 10kW on single-phase connections, subject to any location-specific constraints.	Source for Scanpower
The Lines Company	10kW	Default 10kW	Export of excess generation is allowed up to 10kW per phase.	Source for The Lines Company
The Power Company	10kW	Default 10kW	PowerNet has accepted 10kW export applications since 16 March 2026, subject to local network capacity.	Source for The Power Company
Top Energy	10kW	Default 10kW	Default 10kW export on single phase connections since 1 April 2026, with a compliant AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 inverter required.	Source for Top Energy
Unison Networks	10kW	Default 10kW	Raised its fast-track export limit for single-phase homes from 5kW to 10kW in November 2025, with Australia A inverter settings; export can be reduced when the local network is short of capacity.	Source for Unison Networks
Waipa Networks	10kW	Default 10kW	Raised its single-phase export limit to 10kW and says its network is currently uncongested; exports above 10kW may need extra assessment.	Source for Waipa Networks
WEL Networks	10kW	Default 10kW	Up to 10kW on single phase and 30kW on three phase, approved within minutes where its online check shows capacity at your connection.	Source for WEL Networks
Westpower	10kW	Default 10kW	Default export limit of 10kW from 11 May 2026, unless a network assessment sets a lower limit.	Source for Westpower
Show the other 26 companies, all on the default 10kWShow fewer

This is our live registry, built from each network's own published limits, re-verified 21 October 2026. Most now wave through the 10kW default; on the handful that do not, the system you can buy is smaller than the one in the brochure.

So when could any of this actually arrive?

Here is the calendar, from the parties' own words. Election day is Saturday 7 November 2026. Advance voting opens on 26 October, official results come on 27 November and the writ is returned on 3 December; a government forms in the weeks after, our estimate late November into December. Labour's promise is "up and running within 12 months of taking office", so around late 2027. Making plug-in solar legal is nine to 12 months of secondary legislation that the current government agreed in August to start. And both loan routes wait on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme: pass the legislation first, then 12 to 18 months to stand it up. A homeowner who waits today is looking at a minimum of about 16 months, realistically longer. Round it to 18 months, an estimate.

What waiting costs, including the case where waiting wins

Now the number you came for, on stated assumptions: a 5kW system at $11,500 installed (EECA's figure, not an installer's), saving $1,000 a year. EECA's regional range runs from $1,047 in Southland up to $1,467 in Marlborough, and we have rounded down to $1,000 on purpose. It assumes a house using a fair bit of daytime power; if that is not you, your saving and your cost of waiting are both smaller. The arithmetic is simple: $1,000 a year, foregone for a year and a half, is $1,500 you never banked.

And $1,500 is the floor, because the bill solar offsets keeps climbing. The Electricity Authority's data shows bills rose 6.8% in the first half of 2026 after 8.0% in 2025, with lines charges 54% of the rise, and some retailers are raising prices again before Christmas: Contact from 3 December, Genesis for most customers, most by under 10%.

One last part of your bill solar cannot touch is the daily fixed charge: the low-user cap comes off on 1 April 2027, after stepping up from 30 cents a day in 2021 to $1.80 (before GST) on 1 April 2026. Solar shaves the variable units you use, not the fixed line, and we pull the real change apart from the scare story wrapped around it in our piece on the 1 April 2027 shock.

If the arithmetic says sign, every installer we match you with is EWRB registered and a member of Master Electricians. Get matched with vetted installers: free, about two minutes.

Right of reply, and our corrections policy

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Sources

All fetched 14 July 2026; the Greens, ACT, Cabinet, Electricity Authority, council and Labour items dated after July were added on 19 October 2026.

Government and regulator (primary)

• General Election to be held on 7 November, Beehive
• Solar on schools to boost future resilience, Beehive
• Government announces new Solar on Schools programme, MBIE
• Mid-point review of the phase-out of the low fixed charge regulations, MBIE
• Electricity Authority takes closer look at price increases, Electricity Authority
• Understanding why changes to lines charges may impact your electricity bill, Commerce Commission
• Breaking down home solar costs and savings, EECA
• Understand home energy loans, EECA
• Warmer Kiwi Homes programme, EECA

Party and sector (primary)

• SolarSaver, New Zealand Labour Party
• Green Party calls on Parliament to get on with solar loans before election, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Power for all of us, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2026 package
• Solar, New Zealand National Party, Home Energy Fund page
• LGNZ welcomes Labour's commitment to the full Ratepayers Assistance Scheme, LGNZ via Scoop, 15 October 2026
• Council offers in-principle support for Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, Kāpiti Coast District Council, 3 September 2026
• ACT pledges to stop power companies being broken apart, open up solar market, ACT via Scoop, 18 September 2026
• Cabinet agrees next steps for solar review recommendations, Ministry for Regulation, 17 August 2026
• Data shows 6.8% increase to power bills across households and small businesses, Electricity Authority, 12 August 2026
• Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, Local Government New Zealand
• Political Power: Shane Jones, NZ First, Rewiring Aotearoa

Journalism (secondary, attributed in the text)

• Labour promises subsidies, new loan schemes for installing solar, RNZ, 8 July 2026
• Greens promises to cut power bills and make solar more affordable with $980m KiwiPower plan, RNZ, 20 July 2026
• Plug-in solar to be charged up in regulation changes, RNZ, 17 August 2026
• Report recommends NZ legalises plug-in solar, so what is it?, 1News, 30 July 2026
• Campaign cut-through 2026: solar outshines political polarisation on energy and climate, Newsroom, 25 September 2026
• Labour leader Chris Hipkins tells Rotorua conference councils made a scapegoat for government's failures, NZ Herald, 15 October 2026
• Power prices up for some pre-Christmas despite wholesale prices falling, 1News, 19 October 2026
• Key dates and new voting rules as NZ's election countdown begins, 1News, 25 January 2026
• National promises homeowners low-cost loans to install solar power, RNZ, 25 June 2026
• What would National's solar scheme offer that we can't currently get?, RNZ
• Which political parties would subsidise your rooftop solar panels?, RNZ, 16 April 2026
• Council loans for rooftop solar still waiting on government green light, RNZ, 19 May 2026
• Government kicked the tyres on solar subsidies but went with minor tweaks instead, RNZ, 3 March 2026
• Households paying more for power because of low-user tariff phase-out, RNZ, 9 April 2025
• Labour reveals solar power policy with $3000 kickstart subsidies, plug-in rule changes for renters, Stuff
• Labour's latest policy SolarSaver offers subsidies and loans for home solar power, NZ Herald
• Labour promises low interest rate schemes, subsidies and plug-in options for renters, interest.co.nz
• No matter who the next government is, Aotearoa is going solar, The Spinoff
• Shining a light on the parties' solar policies, Carbon News (dated 20 September 2023, historical)
• Power prices predicted to surge, Consumer NZ
• Power prices in NZ, Powerswitch
• Low user vs standard user, Selectra (the post-2027 daily charge range on this page is the author's estimate, not a regulated figure)