How to Beat Rising Power Prices This Winter

Power prices are on the rise again, with Mercury Energy announcing a 9.7% increase from April 2025. If history is anything to go by, other power companies will likely follow.

For many households, the cost of keeping warm in winter is already a major concern. But instead of cutting back on warmth, the smarter approach is to use less power while staying warm.

The good news? There are plenty of ways to do this, from choosing the right power plan to making your home more energy efficient. This guide covers:

• The best free and off-peak power deals available now
• Smart ways to cut energy costs without sacrificing comfort
• Why wall insulation is the missing piece in home warmth
• How to finance energy-efficient upgrades with low or no-interest loans
• Making the Most of Power Company Deals

Power plans in New Zealand are no longer one-size-fits-all. Many providers now offer time-based discounts, free off-peak power, and hot water savings that can make a real difference to your bill.

If you haven’t checked your plan in a while, now is a great time. Some of the best current offers include:

• Contact’s Good Nights plan with free power from 9 pm to midnight
• Contact’s Good Weekends plan, where power is free from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturdays and Sundays
• Meridian’s Four Free offer, giving four hours of free off-peak power every day
• Genesis’s Power Shout scheme, which lets customers bank free hours of power to use whenever they like
• Mercury and Contact’s EV plans, which offer half-price power for overnight charging
• Several providers offering hot water optimisation, where water heaters are automatically adjusted to run at cheaper times

A good power plan can make a noticeable dent in your bill, especially if you can shift high-usage activities like heating water and running appliances to free or cheaper hours.

Reducing Power Use Without Sacrificing Warmth

Hot water heating is one of the biggest energy costs in a home, typically making up 30 to 40 percent of a power bill. If your system is older, upgrading to a hot water heat pump can cut hot water costs by as much as 60 percent.

For heating, heat pumps are one of the most efficient options, but they work best when the heat they generate is retained. If your home is poorly insulated, heat quickly escapes, meaning the heat pump has to work harder and stay on for longer.

This leads to the next—and often overlooked—factor in power savings: insulation.

The Missing Piece of the Insulation Puzzle

Many New Zealand homes already have ceiling and underfloor insulation, but thousands are still missing one key layer—wall insulation.

Without insulation in the walls, a huge amount of heat escapes, even in a home that already has insulated floors and ceilings. The effect is similar to wearing a warm hat and thick socks in winter but forgetting to put on a jacket.

Many people rely on additional heating to compensate, not realising that improving insulation would allow them to use less heating in the first place.

Amee Hudson’s experience is a good example of this. Despite investing in ceiling and floor insulation, a new roof, and good heating, her home was still cold and damp.

“The walls and windows were always wet, and despite constant wiping down and running a dehumidifier non-stop, the dampness persisted,” she said.

It wasn’t just uncomfortable—it was affecting her family’s health.

After retrofitting wall insulation with Insulmax^®, the change was immediate.

“As soon as the installation was done, the house was warmer and drier. No more mould on the walls and ceilings. No moisture on the walls. Our house is so incredibly warm and dry now.”

The reason wall insulation makes such a big difference is simple: it helps keep the warmth from your heating inside, meaning you don’t need to run heating as long to stay comfortable. It also works in summer by reducing how much heat seeps in from outside, keeping homes cooler.

For many homeowners, adding wall insulation is far more cost-effective than double glazing. While windows can be a source of heat loss, they make up a much smaller surface area than walls. A good set of thermal curtains can go a long way in reducing heat loss through windows, but there’s no equivalent for walls—once heat escapes through uninsulated walls, it’s gone.

Financing Insulation and Energy Upgrades with a Home Loan Top-Up

One of the biggest barriers to improving home energy efficiency is the upfront cost. But what if you could install insulation, upgrade your heating, or even add solar panels without paying out of pocket?

Several major New Zealand banks now offer low or no-interest home loan top-ups specifically for energy efficiency improvements. These loans allow homeowners to borrow up to $80,000 at discounted interest rates to fund insulation, heating upgrades, and other energy-saving improvements.

Most banks require you to have at least 20 percent equity in your home and provide a quote from a professional installer, such as Insulmax^®, before approving the loan. Repayments are typically spread over three to five years.

Some of the latest offers include:

• Westpac’s Greater Choices Home Loan, offering up to $50,000 interest-free for five years
• BNZ’s Green Home Loan, allowing up to $80,000 at 1 percent interest for three years
• ANZ’s Good Energy Home Loan, also providing up to $80,000 at 1 percent interest for three years
• ASB’s Better Homes Top-Up, with the same terms as BNZ and ANZ
• If you’d prefer to finance insulation without increasing your mortgage, Insulmax^® also offers an interest-free Q Mastercard payment plan, which lets you spread the cost over three years with no interest.

For homeowners who want to improve their home’s warmth and energy efficiency, these finance options make it easier to get started without the burden of an upfront payment.

Long-Term Power Savings with Insulmax^®

Power prices will continue to rise, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay more.

By combining smart energy use, a good power plan, and home efficiency improvements like insulation, it’s possible to stay warm and comfortable while keeping power costs down.

Wall insulation is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce power use without changing how you live. It won’t heat your home, but it will make sure the heat you generate stays inside for longer—so you can use less power and still be just as warm.

If you’d like to explore whether wall insulation is right for your home, get in touch with Insulmax^® for a free, no-obligation home assessment.