The 2026 Election Is Good News for Solar
— Here's What It Means for Your Roof
Whoever forms the next government after the 7 November 2026 election, rooftop solar is getting political and financial backing it has never had in New Zealand before.
National, Labour and the Green Party have all released costed solar policies worth a combined $1.1+ billion. Even ACT, the one major party opposed to subsidies, wants to strip back the red tape that slows installs down (RNZ).
None of these policies exist yet. They are election promises, not law. But the direction is clear. Solar is no longer a fringe issue. It is now part of mainstream cost-of-living policy.
For homeowners, that means two things are true at once: change is coming no matter who wins, and today’s system, today’s power bills and today’s 0% finance options don’t have to wait for any of it.
Where NZ solar actually stands right now
- 80,463 homes had solar as of June 2026. That is about 1 in 25 residential connections nationwide. This is up from about 1 in 160 ten years ago.
- The country added 369 megawatts of new solar and 14,318 new connections in the year to June 2026. This is growth of 57%. About 275 new households went solar every week.
- New Zealand still has about 3% household solar uptake. This compares with about 9% in the US. Around a third of homes in Australia have solar.
- Around 22% of solar connections now include a battery.
- Demand for solar jumped an estimated 400% in three months in early 2026. This followed a government order to review consent rules for residential installs.
- Uptake varies hugely by region: Central Otago leads at roughly 1 in 9 homes, while Invercargill sits at just 1.12%. Affluence, not sunshine hours, is the strongest predictor.
Why solar became a 2026 election issue
Two things converged. First, power bills have stayed a top cost-of-living concern. Second, the upfront cost of a system is usually $25,000–$40,000 installed.
It can be higher with a battery.
This cost is often the biggest barrier to uptake, not paperwork or sunlight.
Local Government NZ, Rewiring Aotearoa, and the Sustainable Energy Association of NZ (SEANZ) spent 2025.
They built the case for a low-interest, property-linked loan scheme called the “Ratepayer Assistance Scheme.”
National picked that model up first; Labour and the Greens followed with bigger, more targeted versions.
Party-by-party: what's actually on the table
National — Home Energy Fund
Announced 25 June 2026. A $7 million government equity investment secures a 20% stake in a new lending entity. Participating councils fund the rest.
Homeowners with at least 20% equity could borrow for solar, batteries, insulation, and heat pumps. There would be no upfront cost. Repayments would be made through rates over 10 years.
National also wants to remove the need for council consent on standard residential solar installs. Council participation is voluntary. National expects around 80,000 householdsto take up the scheme over 15 years.
Labour — SolarSaver
Announced 8 July 2026. A $160 million, four-year package funded by repurposing the government’s Gas Security Fund.
It has three parts. The first is kickstart subsidies of up to $3,000 for low- and middle-income households. This can fully cover a small two-panel plug-in kit. The second is a property-linked loan repaid through rates, like National’s model. The third is Crown-backed low-interest loans issued through lines companies. These apply where a solar connection helps the local network. They are repaid through power bills.
It also includes a $30 million community battery fund. It also has a plan to legalise plug-in “balcony” solar for renters. WorkSafe inverter rules currently prohibit it. Labour says the scheme could be running within 12 months of taking office — realistically 2027–2028 at the earliest, and only if it wins.
Green Party — Kiwipower
Announced 20 July 2026. The most ambitious of the three: $980 million over four years to create Kiwipower.
Kiwipower would be a new publicly owned electricity generator.
It would be funded through the party’s proposed wealth tax.
On top of that, roughly $429 million for zero-interest loans covering solar and batteries for up to 90% of homeowners,$460 million to put solar on more than half of public housing stock (around 40,000 homes), $200 million for community-owned renewables on schools, marae, papakāinga and libraries, and $80 million specifically for Māori housing.
The Greens also want to legalise plug-in solar for renters.
ACT — regulation, not subsidy
ACT is the outlier: it opposes solar subsidies outright. Energy spokesperson Simon Court’s position: “if solar stacks up, Kiwis are going to invest without handouts.” ACT points out that 0% and low-interest bank finance for solar already exists, and argues the real blockers are regulatory — grid connection rules, export pricing, and consenting — not cost.
Its focus is on removing those barriers through RMA and local government reform rather than new spending.
NZ First — no policy yet, but not opposed
NZ First hasn’t released a solar-specific 2026 policy.
Deputy leader Shane Jones has previously said he’s “quite interested” in a solar loan scheme, and the party supported the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme concept before the campaign began.
Its energy focus for 2026 is broader market restructuring, including potentially breaking up the major “gentailers.”
Side-by-side comparison
| Party | Policy | Value | Mechanism | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | Home Energy Fund | $7m seed (co-funded by councils) | Low-interest loan, repaid via rates over 10 years | Election promise |
| Labour | SolarSaver | $160m over 4 years | $3,000 subsidy + rates loan + lines company loan | Election promise |
| Greens | Kiwipower + solar loans | $980m (Kiwipower) + ~$429m (loans) | Zero-interest loans + public power company | Election promise |
| ACT | Regulatory reform only | Not costed | Remove consenting/export barriers, no subsidy | Election promise |
| NZ First | None announced | — | — | Undecided |
The part that matters most: this isn't really contested anymore
Strip away the branding and the three costed policies are variations on the same idea: make it possible to get solar with no large sum upfront, and pay it off from the savings on your power bill.
Even the party that rejects subsidies, ACT, isn’t arguing against solar — it’s arguing the market and finance already work, and that government should get out of the way on regulation instead. As The Spinoff put it: “if we take our major parties at face value, the future of New Zealand is solar.“
That’s the key point for anyone weighing up a system now. After 7 November, rooftop solar will not be less supported. The only real variable is how we do it: with a Crown-backed loan, a subsidy, a public power company, or fewer rules.
What this means if you're deciding right now
None of these schemes exist yet. They’re election promises for after 7 November 2026, and even the fastest (Labour’s 12-month target) points to systems being financed under these schemes no earlier than 2027.
0% and low-interest finance already exists today through banks and providers — the same point ACT makes in opposing subsidies.
Consenting is already getting faster. The government ordered a red-tape review in 2026 independent of the election, and standards have already been lifted closer to Australian levels.
Power prices and system costs are the two moving parts that matter most, and both have been trending in solar’s favour regardless of which party is in government.
Which Banks Already Support Solar
While the parties argue over how a future scheme should work, most of the major banks already have one. These are live products today, not proposals.
| Bank | Product | Loan Amount | Rate & Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANZ | Good Energy Home Loan | Up to $80,000 | Fixed rate for 3 years |
| ASB | Better Homes Top Up | Up to $80,000 | Fixed for 3 years; minimum equity required |
| BNZ | Green Home Loan top-ups | Up to $80,000 | 1% p.a. |
| Westpac | Greater Choices Home Loan | Up to $50,000 | Interest-free for 5 years; no establishment fees |
What This Could Actually Save You
It helps to put real numbers against all of this.
The average New Zealand household uses around 7,100–8,000 kWh of electricity a year. That works out to roughly $2,400–$2,600 annually, or about $200–$220 a month, depending on region and plan.
A well-sized residential solar system, typically 6–8kW for a family home, can offset a large share of that daytime usage directly. How much depends on one thing: how much of your power use happens during daylight hours versus evening and overnight.
Two things make the biggest difference to your savings:
- Shifting usage to daytime, like running the dishwasher or charging an EV while the sun’s up, so you’re using your own power instead of exporting it.
- Adding a battery, which stores your excess daytime generation so you can use it in the evening instead of buying it back from the grid.
Both matter because of one simple gap: NZ retailers pay you far less for the power you export than they charge you for the power you import. Closing that gap, by using more of what you generate yourself, is where most of the savings actually come from.
That gap is also why financing matters so much:
- Paid in cash — savings start from day one, with nothing to offset them against.
- Financed at 0–1% (like the bank loans already on the market) — often close to cash-flow neutral, where the bill savings cover most or all of the monthly repayment.
- Financed at a higher rate, or a system sized too large for your actual usage — takes considerably longer to pay for itself.
None of the three party policies change this underlying maths. They only change who’s lending the money and on what terms. The household-level economics, how much you use, how much you export, and the gap between import and export rates, stay exactly the same no matter who’s in government after November.
The takeaway
National, Labour and the Greens have each put a costed solar policy on the table for the 2026 election, and even ACT — the one party against subsidies — wants fewer barriers to installing solar, not more. That’s a rare thing in New Zealand politics: broad agreement that more households going solar is good for the country, even if the parties disagree on how to get there.
None of it changes what solar can do for your household today. Low-interest finance already exists, system costs and power prices are trending the same direction they were before any of these policies were announced, and consenting is already getting faster independent of who wins in November. Whatever happens on 7 November, the case for solar isn’t waiting on it — and neither do you have to.
If you’re weighing up whether now’s the right time, Trilect Solar can walk you through what a system would actually save on your roof, no election result required.
frequently asked questions
Do any of the party solar policies exist yet?
No. All three costed policies (National’s Home Energy Fund, Labour’s SolarSaver, the Greens’ Kiwipower and loan scheme) are election promises for the 7 November 2026 election. None can be applied for today.
Which party has the biggest solar policy?
By dollar value, the Green Party’s package is largest at $980 million for Kiwipower alone, plus roughly $429 million more for zero-interest solar and battery loans. Labour’s SolarSaver is $160 million. National hasn’t put a total cost on uptake but has seeded its fund with $7 million in equity.
When is the 2026 New Zealand general election, and when would a new solar policy start?
The election is on 7 November 2026. None of the three costed party policies (National’s Home Energy Fund, Labour’s SolarSaver, the Greens’ Kiwipower and loan scheme) can be applied for before then, and realistically not before 2027 once the winning party forms a government and passes the legislation needed to set the scheme up.
Which party's policy would help low-income households the most?
Labour’s SolarSaver is the only one of the three with a direct cash subsidy (up to $3,000) specifically targeted at low- and middle-income households. National and the Greens both offer loans rather than a cash payment, which still require some ability to service repayments.
Can renters get solar panels under any of these policies?
Not yet, under any current law. Labour and the Greens have both proposed legalising plug-in “balcony” solar for tenants, which is currently prohibited under WorkSafe inverter rules, but this would require new legislation regardless of which party wins.
Should I wait for a government solar loan or subsidy before installing?
That depends on your circumstances, but it’s worth knowing that low-interest finance is already available now through banks and providers, and every proposed scheme is realistically 12+ months away and dependent on the election outcome and subsequent legislation.
Certified & Accredited
As proud accredited members of these leading New Zealand organisations, we are committed to upholding their values and advancing our industry.
Switch on a brighter future with Trilect Solar!
With 150 skilled technicians and 47 MWp delivered across major solar farm projects, Trilect Solar is a proven leader in commercial solar.
We’ve installed 47 MWp across major solar farm projects, plus more than 5 MWp on commercial rooftops and another 4 MWp across smaller commercial sites, farms, and homes.
When it comes to solar farms and commercial solar, Trilect Solar is your first choice for capability, experience, and reliability.
