The Concept Consulting report accurately states that demand growth in recent decades has been muted by energy efficiency, and the exit of some industrial load.

“Energy efficiency reduces the amount of electricity required to power lights, heaters and motors and therefore lowers power bills, which is a very good thing. This is going to be even more important as we approach next winter - Transpower has already highlighted concerns about 2025 security of supply risk.

“But the journey toward energy efficiency is only half complete and, with the right incentives, more savings are achievable in the next 20 years”, says Chris Mardon, managing director of Ecobulb, an energy efficiency company.

“Replacing all inefficient light bulbs in New Zealand homes with LEDs would reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking all cars off New Zealand roads for a year, and reduce New Zealand’s peak load by the equivalent of a Hamilton-sized city,” Mardon says.

The Concept Consulting report was commissioned by the Electricity Retailers Association of New Zealand (ERANZ) to highlight a net extra 1.4 GW of generation capacity, a 16 percent increase.

“While there’s nothing wrong with more generation to meet higher peak loads, the fact is that building new power stations takes a long time and is expensive. It also requires more investment in power lines and other network infrastructure to move all this extra electricity.

“Energy efficiency is a much cheaper option than building expensive new power stations, but is often overlooked.”

Mardon says that householders and businesses should be incentivised to invest in low-energy devices such as LED lights and heat pumps, which use less electricity than old technologies.

“Replacing all 29 million inefficient light bulbs in New Zealand homes with LEDs would reduce the electricity network winter peak load by 340MW and consumer power bills by $176 million per year,” Mardon says, citing research.

Incentives could be applied through the Commerce Commission, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), or the Electricity Authority.

“Rolling out various low-cost energy saving measures to 1.5 million New Zealand homes could save kiwis $1 billion a year in power, with a four-month payback based on energy savings.

“Upgrading inefficient lighting in SMEs with efficient LEDs would save the equivalent amount of electricity used by the Nelson/Marlborough region, at a third of the cost per MWh of electricity generated by building renewable electricity generation, while also delivering valuable peak load reductions to help keep the lights on in winter.

“Energy efficiency is a no-brainer, and not just because it lowers energy volumes and power bills.”