9. MELISSA LEE (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Energy and Resources
How many homes were retrofitted in March through the Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart home insulation scheme?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Energy and Resources) Link to this
I am pleased to advise the House that in March 3,837 houses were retrofitted with home insulation or a clean-heating device. Since the scheme started on 1 July 2009, the very large number of 37,532 houses has received assistance under the scheme. The target for the first year was 27,000 houses, so that record has been beaten by some 10,000 houses in only 9 months of the scheme’s existence to date.
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
This is one of the most pleasing aspects of the scheme. So far the uptake from low-income households has been about 60 percent of the homes that have been retrofitted—in other words, homes that are occupied by low-income earners. That is over 22,000 homes that will be drier, warmer, and healthier for the people who need that the most.
Chris HipkinsWhat steps has he taken to ensure that the initial quality concerns with regard to Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart have been addressed, given that an audit of 570 houses that had been insulated under the scheme found that 359, or 63 percent, of them had insulation problems, half of which were regarded as serious; and what reassurance can he give to the 37,532 householders whom he has just mentioned that their houses have been insulated to an appropriate standard and have not had a slapdash job done so that he can trump up the numbers?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
That is a very serious question. Since the very start of the scheme we have insisted on very high standards, so the audit process—and every house that is insulated undergoes an audit process—has 100 checkpoints to ensure that all aspects of the job are up to standard. The issues that have been raised in some of the audits are considered to be easily rectifiable—
Hon Annette KingHon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
Every house is audited by the installer; that is right. Then there is the—
Mr SPEAKERHon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The standards that are being achieved are extremely high compared with, for example, the situation in Australia. We have also held back payments from anybody who has a history of doing this work poorly, as well as from others who are in a position where they have had strikes issued against them. We are quite firm that if people do not rectify poorly installed insulation, they will be out of the scheme as providers.