Do you need a SEANZ installer for a solar loan? We checked 5 banks

Solar is still a young industry in New Zealand. Ask five people how solar finance works and you'll get six answers. Half truths get handed down, told over the fence, and taken as gospel. We don't think this is with malicious intent, there is just so much to unpack when you are buying a solar system, from panels and inverters to export limits and finance, that the message gets garbled somewhere along the way, or overlooked entirely in the excitement of it all.

One half-truth we keep hearing on the finance side is small but significant: that to get a low interest green loan from a major bank, your installer has to be SEANZ accredited. So we opened the fine print for all five major banks, got seriously caffeinated, and started getting into what each one actually requires before it will lend. We also spoke to the people submitting those green loan applications week in, week out.

The short version is, currently only two of the five major banks providing low-interest solar loans, actually state that SEANZ accreditation is required from the installer.

When do you need a SEANZ installer for solar?

In a nutshell, if you're looking to get low interest finance for solar on your mortgage, and currently have said mortgage with ANZ or Kiwibank, your installer being SEANZ accredited is important.

But it only matters at those two. Westpac, ASB and BNZ don't mention SEANZ at all, which includes the bank lending at 0%.

Two things to know before the table. First, “green loan” means five different things depending on where you bank: Westpac is the only true 0%, ANZ, ASB and BNZ discount to 1% for three years then revert, and Kiwibank pays a cashback on a standard rate loan. Second, and this catches people out, all five products require you to already hold your mortgage with that bank. Every figure below comes straight off the bank's own product page.

The five big banks’ green loans for solar and whether each requires a SEANZ-member installer. Checked August 2026.

Bank	Rate & term	Installer must be	SEANZ req.?
Greater Choices Home LoanSource for Westpac	0% for 5 yearsup to $50,000	Installer must beA qualified supplier or installer.	NoSEANZ optional
Better Homes Top UpSource for ASB	1% for 3 yearsthen standard, up to $80,000	Installer must beA qualified professional installer who does this work day to day.	NoSEANZ optional
Better Future Home Loan Top-UpSource for BNZ	1% for 3 yearsthen standard, up to $80,000	Installer must beA qualified business that supplies and installs as a normal part of its business.	NoSEANZ optional
Good Energy LoanSource for ANZ	1% for 3 yearsthen standard, up to $80,000	Installer must beA SEANZ member company.	YesSEANZ required
Sustainable Energy LoanSource for Kiwibank	Standard rate$2,000 cashback over 4 years	Installer must beA SEANZ member company that both supplies and installs.	YesSEANZ required

Westpac's 0% green loan: what it actually requires

Westpac's Greater Choices top-up is the one everyone asks about, and the one people mistake for a government scheme. It is Westpac's own product: 0% interest, up to $50,000, repaid in full within 5 years, and you need a Westpac mortgage. What it asks of your installer, in Westpac's own words: "a qualified supplier and/or installer", a quote from a professional, and an invoice before the money is released. That is all of it. No association, no logo, no membership number.

Westpac mentions industry associations once, and the wording matters: "A good way to check that you're working with a reputable company is to check that they are a member of the relevant industry association." A good way to check. Not a condition of lending. The bank treats membership as one signal among several, then lends on the qualification and the invoice. Nor is this recent: Westpac's February 2021 fine print, back when the product was called Warm Up, asked only that "A professional installer must fit the Warm Home Essentials" (Internet Archive). The cheapest solar money in New Zealand has never required a SEANZ member. Not in 2021, not today.

ANZ and Kiwibank: the two green loans that require SEANZ

To be fair to the folklore, it did not come from nowhere. Two banks have put it in writing. ANZ's Good Energy loan, 1% for the first 3 years, asks for a quote from a company that is a member of the Sustainable Energy Association of New Zealand, plus an installation date, before it will fund solar panels or batteries. Kiwibank's Sustainable Energy Loan hard-codes it: the system must be supplied and installed by a SEANZ-member company, full stop. Beyond that Kiwibank publishes no document list at all; the loan simply has to start when the system is installed or when you have an agreement for installation. If your mortgage sits with either bank, a non-member quote will not get funded.

ASB and BNZ: a qualified installer, no membership

ASB wants a quote from a qualified professional installer who does this work as part of their day-to-day business, and BNZ wants one from a qualified business that supplies and installs as a normal part of their business. Both are asking the same sensible question: is this a real company that installs solar for a living?

Solar is taking off. So are the newcomers.

Solar in New Zealand is having its moment. At the end of July 2026, 82,056 homes were generating their own power, up from 70,165 a year earlier, and roughly 1,250 more are connected every month. Work like that attracts tradespeople, and plenty of new outfits will add solar to what they offer. There is nothing wrong with that. Some of the best installers in the country were new to solar once.

But it does change what you need to check as a homeowner. When an industry grows this fast, the gap between the best and the worst quote on your kitchen table gets wider, and the company name on the letterhead tells you nothing about who is actually up on your roof. So ask directly: who does the electrical work, your own staff or a subcontractor, and what is that person's name? A good company answers in one sentence.

No single check settles this, and that includes the one the law demands. Prescribed electrical work on your home must be done by someone who is registered and holds a current practising licence, at every bank and on every loan in the country. The EWRB register is public and free, and it shows two things people miss: whether that licence is current today, and whether the worker has been disciplined. What it cannot tell you is whether the work will be any good.

So stack the checks instead of resting on one. That is how our own standard is built: EWRB registration, which is mandatory; five years of solar behind them; reviews we can read and references we can ring; and membership of SEANZ or Master Electricians, both preferred. SEANZ membership is a good sign, one of many accreditations a well-run outfit picks up to show they are doing their bit. Just do not let any badge do your homework: review every installer the same way, member or not. Our guide to choosing a solar installer has the questions worth asking and the three warranties to get in writing, which matters most when the company quoting you is new to solar.

Before you sign anything

The practical playbook falls straight out of the fine print:

1. Start with your bank, not the brochure. The loan you can actually get depends on where your mortgage lives. All five products require your mortgage to be with that bank, so your first call is to your own lender, not to an installer.
2. Start at the licence, then keep going. Ask who will do the electrical work, get their name, then look them up on the EWRB public register. It searches people, not company names, so the name is the thing to ask for. It costs nothing and it applies everywhere, but it is a floor rather than a verdict: ask for their years in solar, references you can ring, and their industry membership as well.
3. With ANZ or Kiwibank, ask the SEANZ question early. If your quote comes from a non-member, those two banks will not fund it. Confirm membership on SEANZ's member directory before you sign anything, not after.
4. With Westpac, mind the five-year clock. The 0% is real, but it must be repaid in full within 5 years. Divide the system price by 60 and make sure that monthly number fits before you fall in love with the headline rate.

The wider point is one we make across every guide on this site: the paperwork should follow the installer, never the other way round. Choose the company you would trust on your roof with no loan involved, then match their quote to your bank's rules. Two of the five banks care about the club. Neither of them is the one lending at 0%.

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Sources

Bank product pages (all read 8 August 2026)

• Westpac: Greater Choices Home Loan
• ANZ: Good Energy Home Loan
• ASB: Better Homes Top Up
• BNZ: Better Future home loan top-ups
• Kiwibank: Sustainable Energy Loan

Archive

• Westpac Warm Up loan, Internet Archive capture, 21 February 2021 (read 8 August 2026)

Market data

• Electricity Authority: Installed distributed generation trends, residential solar connections nationwide, data to 31 July 2026 (read 17 August 2026)

Regulator and industry

• Electrical Workers Registration Board: public register (read 17 August 2026)
• Sustainable Energy Association of New Zealand (read 8 August 2026)