Get insulation, ventilation & a heat pump on your rates.
10 years to pay with Hawke's Bay Regional Council's Sustainable Homes Programme.
The Hawke's Bay Regional Council's 'Sustainable Homes' Programme (previously Heatsmart) lets Hawke's Bay homeowners and landlords with properties in particular "Airzones" get home insulation, ventilation, and a heat pump and pay for it through your rates bill over up to 10 years*.
The aim of the programme is to make Hawke's Bay homes warmer and healthier by offering an easy finance option for home insulation, ventilation, solar and heat pumps to improve air quality. Brightr are proud to be an approved provider in the local "Sustainable Homes'" programme and can help with the paperwork.
Low income homeowners may also be eligible for grants of 80% towards insulation costs (for homes built pre-2008) as part of the government's Warmer Kiwi Homes programme - conditions apply. Book your Home Energy Assessment with us today and we'll let you know what you are eligible for.
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We give advice and quotes on a range of products to make your home or investment property warmer, healthier and more energy efficient. Contact our Brightr team who’ll take you through how improving your property can be made easy.
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Funding for insulation, ventilation and heat pumps.
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council's programme provides all eligible ratepayers up to $20,000 funding for:
- ceiling and underfloor insulation and ventilation systems;
- heat pumps for homes outside of, and in an airshed to replace an existing non-compliant fire or woodburner;
- a one-off grant of $700 to decommission a non-compliant fire and replace it with a compliant heat source.
This $20,000 funding includes any existing insulation/heating/ventilation/woodburner VTR balances. To access the funding, ratepayers need a good history of paying regional council rates. Any existing VTR balance can be combined with a new one into a single VTR (one per property) 'Sustainable Homes combination, up to $20,000.
Pay if off over up to 10 years.
The funding is repaid through your regular HBRC rates bill and is itemised as a "targeted rate". The repayments are over a period of 10 years and you can make additional repayments if you wish to pay it off earlier.
If you sell your house before fully paying off the financial assistance you are legally required to disclose the existence of the targeted rate to potential buyers. Alternatively you can pay the outstanding amount off in full prior to selling.
Adding insulation will mean you use less energy (electricity, wood, gas) to create the equivalent warmth and so you can save money while you're paying the insulation off.
Which Airzone are you in?
Ratepayers in Airzones 1 and 2 can access insulation and heating funding through the programme. Airzone 1 generally covers the urban areas of Hastings, Flaxmere, Havelock North, and Napier. Airzone 2 covers the remaining areas within the Napier and Hastings airsheds. Whirinaki and Awatoto are excluded.
The funding is only available for homes that are uninsulated (or have inadequate insulation) and for heat pumps only when they are replacing a non-compliant woodburner. To be eligible for the funding you must:
- Be a Hawke's Bay Regional Council ratepayer
- Be up to date with payments on your rates
- Have quotes from an approved insulation provider (that's us!)
What is the interest rate?
The interest rate is 4% for all products.
Combining Rates Funding & EECA Grants
If your home is eligible for insulation subsidies as part of the government's new Warmer Kiwi Homes programme with help from Hawke's Bay Power Consumers Trust, you can use the Council's rates programme to address your heating at the same time.
Grants of 80%-100% off the cost of ceiling and underfloor insulation, and ground vapour barriers are provided through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) Warmer Kiwi Homes programme and with help from HBPCT, and will automatically be included on any quote for these items.
If you are a Unison customer in the Hawke's Bay region, you may be eligible for additional subsidies for your home, but do note, that funding is limited and is available while subsidies last.
Book a Home Assessment with us today and we can walk you through the subsidies and funding available.