Regional councils nationwide are responsible for making sure burners meet national air-quality standards set by the Ministry of Environment in 2004.
This means higher-risk areas such as Arrowtown, Clyde, Cromwell, Alexandra and Milton are high on the council's radar to meet code compliance for wood-burning heaters.
Since 2008, nearly 2000 Otago homeowners have taken up the heating subsidy set by the Government to help towards heating and insulation in their homes.
The four-year ''Warm Up New Zealand'' programme started in 2009 by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority contributed $347 million of Government money for home insulation and heating.
As part of the Government's 2012 budget, the programme aimed to retrofit 230,000 homes. ORC general services director Jeff Donaldson said the council was pleased with the response in Otago but would like to see more homeowners taking the subsidy and upgrading their heating systems.
''It always dies away in the summer ... but it is peaking now and there have been a lot more inquiries.''
The subsidies are about 33% for those on a ''general income'' or 60% for community services card holders. The Government will review the scheme before the end of June, but Mr Donaldson said the ORC would continue to run its own.
''It will run each year. The subsidies are still available in Otago because council are committed to it.''
Subsidies will be available only to homes that meet the required building code standards for insulation and those built before 2000. Homeowners with non-compliant solid fuel burners must have them removed. This winter, the council's ''pollution wagon'' will be used to carry out random checks on homes in airzone 1 areas, as well as responding to public complaints regarding pollution.
Mr Donaldson said Arrowtown, Alexandra, Cromwell, Clyde and Milton were of highest priority. Airzone 2 areas such as Queenstown, Dunedin and Balclutha were of lower risk to the environment at this stage.
''We are trying to get rid of the coal and wood burners and are offering the incentive of a new product.''
New wood burners were acceptable. People who were unsure of which products met the ''new'' standards could check the back of the fireplace, he said. Wood burners installed after September 1, 2005, in a building on a property of less than 2ha were required to meet the emission rate of less than 1.5g/kg and have a thermal efficiency of no less than 65%.
The combustion appliances ORC are looking at are open fires, multifuel heaters, pellet heaters, coal burners and stoves heated by burning wood.
A copy of compliance standards can be found on the ORC website.
