The Ministry of Regulation launched a review aimed at slashing the red tape that makes solar energy installation in New Zealand double the price compared with Australia.
‘‘One way or another, we’re going to have the simplest rules for doing solar in the world,’’ Mr Seymour said at the Electric Cherries orchard near Cromwell, a solar-powered operation co-founded by Rewiring Aotearoa chief executive Mike Casey.
Mr Seymour said New Zealand had made it far too difficult for people to install solar. He pointed to the state of Victoria, where homeowners could get solar installed in a single visit — something he said New Zealand should be aiming for.
Mr Seymour said in Victoria the entire process could be completed in one go, with one inspector and one visit.
Here, the process involves multiple inspectors, repeated visits and inconsistent rules that vary between councils and electricity distributors, adding cost and time at every turn.
‘‘You’ve got a number of inspectors, by the time everyone has gone back and forth,’’ he said.
‘‘By the time you actually get through it, you’ve just faced far too much cost.’’
Installing solar should be no more complicated than getting someone to install a dishwasher, he said.
The sector review, which Mr Seymour said would take a couple of months before recommendations go to Cabinet, would aim to standardise rules for solar nationally, reduce the number of steps in the process and ideally allow one person to carry out an installation.
Changes to law would follow if needed, he said.
When questioned on subsidies, Mr Seymour said the focus was on cutting costs through efficiency.
‘‘We can subsidise things in the meantime, but that comes at the expense of taxpayers using their money for something else,’’ he said.
Mr Casey welcomed the review as a genuine breakthrough.
‘‘This is the first time I’ve seen Wellington people move fast for something that’s actually going to benefit the people of New Zealand.’’
