Latest / Best of Business / Mike Casey: Rewiring Aotearoa CEO on the Government looking to changes laws on plug-in solar panels

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Mike Casey: Rewiring Aotearoa CEO on the Government looking to changes laws on plug-in solar panels · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk ZEDB. Follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio Now.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: As I told you just before, Simeon Brown has posted
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  Speaker 2: on his Facebook that the National Party is working to
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  Speaker 2: relax rules that would make it legal for key We
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  Speaker 2: used to buy plug in solar units from places like Ikea.
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  Speaker 2: At the moment, using one of these things as illegal
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  Speaker 2: in New Zealand. Rewiring ALTI at Or chief executive Mike
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  Speaker 2: Casey is with us on this.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, Mike Hither. It's like all my Christmases have come
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  Speaker 3: up once. This is amazing.
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  Speaker 2: You know what I'm talking about here?
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  Speaker 3: Oh?
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  Speaker 1: I do.
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  Speaker 3: We've been talking with politicians across the house for a
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  Speaker 3: long time about this, lobbying pretty hard because this is
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  Speaker 3: a massive equity play for New Zealanders that will actually
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  Speaker 3: substantially bring down people's bower bills. So we're very excited.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So if they can buy this from Ikea in Germany,
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  Speaker 2: why is it illegal for us to buy it?
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  Speaker 3: It's just been illegal here for a long time. There
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  Speaker 3: was a decision put out I think back in twenty
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  Speaker 3: twelve about plug and solar. Essentially, it's time for us
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  Speaker 3: to get with the times. I think there's like five
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  Speaker 3: million something installations now across intocontinental Europe. People are bringing
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  Speaker 3: down their power bills by between seven and fifteen percent
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  Speaker 3: a year, maybe more if you're really really active with
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  Speaker 3: your power management. So yeah, it's just something that we
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  Speaker 3: thought need to happen in New Zealand hasn't happened in
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  Speaker 3: Australia yet. We copy a lot of our regulations and
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  Speaker 3: standards from Australia, so we're breaking the mold and heading
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  Speaker 3: out and doing it ourselves.
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  Speaker 2: Good stuff. Okay, So if I had one of these
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  Speaker 2: things sitting in full daylight, what can I power? Could
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  Speaker 2: I power a dryer?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can power a lot of things like it.
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  Speaker 3: It's hard to know exactly what will happen because of
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  Speaker 3: where the sun is in the sky and whether you're
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  Speaker 3: moving it around and pointing it directly at the sun
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  Speaker 3: or whether you're just leaving it out on your balcony
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  Speaker 3: all day. Short answer is seven to fifteen percent is
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  Speaker 3: what we think it will bring the average price down
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  Speaker 3: of power. You'll probably still be taking power from the
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  Speaker 3: grid when you're running something like the dryer or your oven,
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  Speaker 3: but at the same time, it's just yeah, it's just
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  Speaker 3: lowering your bills, which I thought, which is really cool.
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  Speaker 2: I was under the impression by looking at the thing
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  Speaker 2: that you So you put the solar power a solar
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  Speaker 2: panel out there in the daylight, and then it feeds
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  Speaker 2: to a unit and you plug your appliance directly into
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  Speaker 2: that unit. Is that not how?
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  Speaker 3: You literally plug it straight into a normal wall socker
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  Speaker 3: in your wall, and it starts feeding electure back into
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  Speaker 3: your into your walls.
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  Speaker 2: Telling me that socker goes both ways, like you can.
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  Speaker 3: It goes both ways. And what's even more exciting is
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  Speaker 3: this also enables the pathway for plug in batteries. So
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  Speaker 3: not only are we talking about sunlight hours, but maybe
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  Speaker 3: you get that free hour of free power from your
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  Speaker 3: from your retailer, Well you'll be able to charge those
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  Speaker 3: batteries during that hour as well and use that power
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  Speaker 3: later on. I imagine they'll probably end up changing those
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  Speaker 3: rules as a result of this, but it is amazing
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  Speaker 3: for so many people.
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  Speaker 2: How much does one of these units cost?
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  Speaker 3: So we think it's probably going to land about three
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  Speaker 3: hundred bucks if you go down to a mile to
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  Speaker 3: ten and pick it up. And the great thing about
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  Speaker 3: it of course, is that you can pick it up
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  Speaker 3: and take it with you, which works really really well
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  Speaker 3: for renters, all those that are just looking to try
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  Speaker 3: and get into solar for the first time, rather than
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  Speaker 3: spending twenty grand to put solar on your arm, Like
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  Speaker 3: this is a god.
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  Speaker 2: What happens, isn't it, Because like, seriously, I've talked to
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  Speaker 2: you about Sola. I've just gone now. I can't be
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  Speaker 2: bothered with the outlay. It's just it's such a massive
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  Speaker 2: investment for technology that's changing quickly. But if this stuff
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  Speaker 2: is just three hundred bucks from down the road, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: this is going to get people in, isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: It's going to get people in the door. And I
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  Speaker 3: think you know, once you're there and the app is
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  Speaker 3: on your phone and you're seeing what you're doing, you'll
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  Speaker 3: be like, oh god, Mike's right all along. I better
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  Speaker 3: go and actually install a proper system on my rooftop.
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  Speaker 3: But it is a really good way to get started
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  Speaker 3: in this process. And I think for renters, pensioners, so
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  Speaker 3: many people that just can't afford that at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: this is still a great way. It's just basically saying,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the most vulnerable households in New Zealand, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you fill the jug all the way up and have
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  Speaker 3: a longer shower because we've actually got a solution that's
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  Speaker 3: going to work at lower your power bills now without
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  Speaker 3: sacrificing you know, your lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: Okay question for you though, So let's just say you're
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  Speaker 2: at the far end and it saves you fifteen percent
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  Speaker 2: of your power bill. If I went and got six
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  Speaker 2: of them then or five of them or whatever, could
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  Speaker 2: I bring my power bill down one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 3: So it just it really depends on so many different things,
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  Speaker 3: how many plugs you've got, how many circus you've got
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  Speaker 3: in your house. The one thing that we have to
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  Speaker 3: be aware of there is an inverter on the back
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  Speaker 3: of the solar system which checks for voltage and make
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  Speaker 3: sure that you essentially don't go over the voltage of
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  Speaker 3: the wiring in your house. So at some point you're
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  Speaker 3: going to get a law of diminishing returns. But yes,
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  Speaker 3: you could substantially daisy chain a bunchet of them together,
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  Speaker 3: point them at different areas of the sky for different
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  Speaker 3: times of the day and really increase your solar window opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: It really just comes down to you know how much
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  Speaker 3: of it is you're motivated by ROI versus how much
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  Speaker 3: of you motivated by not spending as much money on
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  Speaker 3: your power bill.
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  Speaker 2: Brilliant, Mike, Thanks for talking us through. By the way,
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  Speaker 2: have you heard Labors announcing its solar policy tomorrow?
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  Speaker 3: I have heard that there's something big coming tomorrow. And
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  Speaker 3: this is what I've been working on for so long,
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  Speaker 3: is just to make sure this is an electric election
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  Speaker 3: where ultimately the different political parties are not opposing each
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  Speaker 3: other's policies. We're all on the.
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  Speaker 2: Hold on current. Are they exactly the same policies? Basically,
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  Speaker 2: don't know.
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  Speaker 3: But the hope is here that they all realize that
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  Speaker 3: the future is electric, the future involves a lot of
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  Speaker 3: solar and ultimately we'll let them bicker over what policy
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  Speaker 3: is the best policy for us to get there, as
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  Speaker 3: long as we're all on the same path.
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  Speaker 2: Brilliant. Hey, thank you, mate, Appreciate it. Mike Casey, rewiring
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  Speaker 2: Elsie at or chief Executives.
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