Financing A Solar Power System Purchase
Updated: 18/11/2022
Solar power systems will save any home in New Zealand considerable amounts of money over time. Financing can help with the initial up front cost of the solar power system. There are several ways you can finance a solar power system:
- Topping up a home mortgage
- A personal loan
- Regional council funding
1. Financing Solar With A Mortgage Top Up
Typically, interest rates on your home's mortgage will be the cheapest financing option and make the most sense. To sweeten the offer some of the largest banks now have low-interest loans for solar and battery purchases, including ANZ, ASB and Westpac. Details of their offers are below.
ANZ Good Energy Home Loan
ASB Better Homes Top-Up
- 1% Interest rate
- Customers can borrow up to $80,000
- The loan term is 3 years.
- A quote must come from a solar company that is a SEANZ member.
- ASB will need to see a quote/invoice for the purchase that is no more than 60 days old
More ASB Better Homes Top-up details here
Westpac Warm Up Loan
- 0% Interest rate
- Customers can borrow up to $50,000.
- The loan term is up to 5 years.
- A quote must come from a solar company that is a SEANZ member.
- Westpac will need to see a quote/invoice for the purchase that is no more than 90 days old
More Westpac Warm Up details here
BNZ Green Home Loan Top-Up
Get 3 Free, No-Obligation Quotes From SEANZ Members Here.
Kiwibank Sustainable Energy Loan
- This is for solar power, small-scale hydro, wind, or geothermal power generation.
- If you borrow more than $5,000, they will contribute up to $2,000 over four years towards the cost of the system – $800 at the end of the first year and $400 at the end of each of the following three years.
- The home loan top-up fee will be waived if you are already a Kiwibank Home Loan customer.
- The sustainable energy loan is a variable-rate home loan. The minimum loan term is seven years and the maximum term is 10 years.
- A quote must come from a solar company that is a SEANZ member.
- The sustainable energy loan has to be taken out either when the system is installed or when you get an agreement for installation.
More details on Kiwibank's website.
2. Financing Solar With A Personal Loan or Interest-Free Financing
Those offering this type of finance include Q Card, Gem Visa, Q Mastercard and Finance Now.
Companies like Q Card often have deals where you don't have to pay interest on your first year, but from the second year onwards interest creeps up to around 26% p.a..
Buyers should exercise caution; interest-free doesn't always translate to "free". Often in the first year of these 'interest-free' loans the fees can amount to an equivalent of paying 10% p.a..
Personal loans will work for many people as long as the loan is paid off within the interest-free time period. However, if left longer the benefit of cheaper electricity bills from installing solar power will be outweighed by the cost of interest incurred on the loan.
3. Regional Council Solar Funding
Hawkes Bay Regional Council - Sustainable Homes Funding
Hawkes Bay Regional Council offers funding for solar power and batteries. View more details below:
- Eligible ratepayers can borrow up to $20,000 at 6% interest rate.
- Repaid over 10 years by way of a voluntary targeted rate (VTR).
- Ratepayers need a good history of paying regional council rates
- Any funding application of $5000.00 or more will require a credit check.
- Homeowners with existing homes can apply, new homes can not apply for this loan.
- The installation must be completed by an approved solar installer.
- New application measures have taken place since the 15th of May 2022 due to recent changes to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003.
More details on Hawkes Bay Regional Council's website
Marlborough District Council - Energy Efficiency Funding
The Marlborough district council has a similar funding scheme for solar and other energy-efficient home upgrades. For more information go to the Marlborough District Council website.
