The bare minimum

Household solar power is having a moment at the moment, and encouraging it is looking like a total no-brainer for any government. Even National has got on board, announcing a loan scheme as an election policy:

National has promised to help households shift to solar power through low interest loans, if it's re-elected.

It planned to introduce a Home Energy Fund offering low-interest, long-term loans that are repaid through rates so households can invest in solar, batteries, insulation and heat pumps, without big upfront costs.

Which sounds good, and it is, but it is also the bare fucking minimum now. Low-interest loans are something offered by every major bank. Handling them through rates allows broader access and easier repayment, and that will boost uptake, but you could also get more (at higher cost) through direct subsidies, or by regulating for higher payback rates or net metering. And of course there's still landlords to tackle.

There's also serious doubts over National's actual delivery on its promise. Councils have been asking them for this exact policy since last year, and National has stalled them, apparently so it can cynically announce it as an election policy. They considered, then chucked solar incentives last year, so there's a real question of commitment. And of course lurking in the background is their "promise" last election of 10,000 EV chargers, which due to a complete lack of implementing policy has resulted in fewer than 500 extra actually being built. Its easy to imagine this promise going the same way - once they've got the headline, they simply won't pass the legislation, won't allocate the trivial amount of money required, and so won't do the thing. Other parties are likely to be more committed.

What it does show is how comprehensively the Greens have won the argument on this. They've been advocate solar loans for a decade, and now even National has to pretend to agree with them. Which just goes to show the value of advocacy - and invites the question of how Labour could have changed the political landscape if they'd bothered to argue for anything, rather than hiding and triangulating.