All homeowners qualify for assistance with the cost of insulation as this must be completed before clean heat can be installed. Replacing an existing non-compliant woodburner or open fire within the Hastings or Napier airshed qualifies homeowners earning under $100,000 per year for Regional Council clean heat funding. Your Service Provider (installer) will direct you on the best clean heat option for your home and ensure any replacement burner meets the emission ratings for each airshed.
Homeowners can access funding from both ENERGYWISE and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Heat Smart funding assistance programme offers homeowners an additional one-off grant or top up loan to be repaid over 10 years through the property’s Rates. Work out the funding assistance you qualify for using the tables below. Use Table A if your house is inside an airshed or Table B for homes outside the airsheds.
Important Points
- All funding applications must be made through an EECA-contracted service provider (installer).
- Ceiling and underfloor insulation must be completed to EECA standards before funded clean heating can be installed.
- Clean heat devices include approved solid fuel wood burners, 4-star AGA-rated flued gas heaters, approved wood pellet burners and Energy Star qualified heat pumps.
- To qualify for Regional Council clean heat funding you must be replacing an existing non-compliant woodburner or open fire. The burner emission limit for new and replacement burners in Airzone 1 of the Hastings Airshed is 1.0 g/kg for all freestanding burners and inserts burners without a wetback, and 1.5 g/kg for insert burners with a wetback. In Airzone 2 of the Hastings Airshed, and Airzone 1 and 2 of the Napier Airshed the burner emission limit is 1.5 g/kg.
- You may apply to both ENERGYWISETM and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council for funding assistance. A landlord is eligible for the grant or loan where the tenant is a Community Services Card holder.
- One Regional Council non-repayable grant or loan is allowed per household.
- The value of the loan, interest and fees is repaid over a 10 year period through your property’s rates; all figures include GST.
- Homes built after 2000 may be eligible for Regional Council funding after July 2010.
- For the purposes of the Heat Smart Programme the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council ‘top up loan‘ will take the form of a Council funded installation service provided to the Ratepayer and recovered though a targeted rate mechanism.
There is a wide range of clean heating options available to choose from, depending on what’s best for your home, your preference and price range. The best place to start is the Energywise website. Click here to see the most up to date list of heating devices which have been approved for funding assistance. These include selected wood burners, pellet fires, heat pumps and flued gas heaters.
The Napier and Hastings airsheds include Napier and Taradale, Hastings, Havelock North, Flaxmere and parts of Clive. These are the places most affected by local air pollution. Houses inside an airshed qualify for more funding as an incentive to reduce air pollution (PM10) in these areas. Like all other regions in New Zealand, Hawke’s Bay must meet the National Environmental Standard (NES) for air quality set by the Ministry for the Environment. Currently, PM10 levels over Napier and Hastings urban centres on cold, clear winter nights exceed this standard.
The Napier and Hastings Airsheds are divided into two Airzones. Airzone 1 covers the more densely populated urban areas most affected by air pollution. Airzone 2 covers the remaining areas within the wider Airsheds. All homes within the Airsheds qualify for funding as an incentive to reduce air pollution in these areas, though only homes located inside Airzone 1 will be subject to the Council’s burner and open fire phase out dates.
Hastings Airshed
Napier Airshed
Monitoring of the Hastings and Napier urban centres show the following contributing factors to average daily winter PM10 exceedences:
Hastings
- Domestic heating 88%
- Outdoor burning 5%
- Motor vehicles 4%
- Industry 3%
There are currently approximately 11,000 burners within the Hastings airshed area. To comply with NES by 2013 PM10 Hastings emissions need to reduce by 71%
Napier
- Domestic heating 87%
- Outdoor burning 5%
- Motor vehicles 4%
- Industry 2%
- Marine 1%
- Aviation 1%
There are currently approximately 10,700 burners in the Napier airshed area. To comply with NES by 2013 Napier’s PM10 emissions need to reduce by 47%.
PM10 comes from sources such as burning wood, coal, oil and light fuel oil in domestic fires, transportation and industrial processes and defines a size of 'particulate matter'. Natural sources of this particulate matter include sea salt, dust, pollens and volcanic activity. The Ministry for the Environment has set a national target date of September 2013 to have reduced the amount of PM10 in the airsheds so it does not exceed a 24 hour average of more than 50 µg/m3 (microgram per cubic metre) more than once per year. If Hawke’s Bay does not comply with this target no new resource consents are permitted to be issued within that airshed. This will have a significant impact on our local industries and those they employ. | 
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Like all other regions in New Zealand, Hawke’s Bay must meet the National Environmental Standard (NES) for air quality set by the Ministry for the Environment. Currently PM10 concentrations in Napier and Hastings on cold clear winter nights exceed this standard.
The key points in Council's recently revised air quality rules are:
The burner emission limit for new and replacement burners in Airzone 1 of the Hastings Airshed is 1.0 g/kg for all freestanding burners and inserts burners without a wetback, and 1.5 g/kg for insert burners with a wetback. In Airzone 2 of the Hastings Airshed, and Airzone 1 and 2 of the Napier Airshed the burner emission limit is 1.5 g/kg.
On properties less than 2 hectares in size located in Airzone 1 of the Napier or Hastings Airsheds:
From 1 January 2012, using an open fire will be prohibited.
Non-complying burners installed before 31 December 1995 will be prohibited from use after 1 January 2014.
Non-complying burners installed between 1 January 1996 and 31 August 2005 will be prohibited from use after 1 January 2016.
Non-complying burners installed after 31 August 2005 will be prohibited from use after 1 January 2018 in Airzone 1 of the Hastings Airshed, and 1 January 2020 in Airzone 1 of the Napier Airshed.
Please note: building inspectors at your local city or district council have been checking that new wood burner installations comply with NES burner emission standards since 2005.
Properties greater than 2 hectares in size, or located in Airzone 2 of the Hastings or Napier Airsheds can continue to use their existing burners or open fires however, on replacement the relevant burner emission limit stated above must be complied with.
From 1 January 2012, using an open fire installed after 10 December 2008 will be prohibited in Airzone 1 or 2 of the Hastings or Napier Airsheds.
Resource consent will be required to undertake outdoor burning during the months of May – August (inclusive) unless the burning is taking place on horticultural production land for the purposes of disease control or redevelopment.
Any outside fire used for cooking, such as bbqs, pizza ovens, hangi or braziers, will be permitted all year round.
Read Council's air quality FAQs.
If you would like further information about the Regional Council's funding assistance programme, air quality, or proposed changes to the National Environment Standard, please email your contact details and query to our Healthy Homes Programme Manager.