KEY POINTS:
Summertime will arrive a week earlier this year and leave two weeks later after the Government's decision to extend daylight saving by three weeks.
Minister of Internal Affairs Rick Barker announced the extension yesterday, saying it was in response to widespread support and a lot of correspondence in support of extending daylight saving.
Summer will now be 27 weeks - starting at 2am on September 30 and ending at 3am on April 6, 2008.
He said the benefits were expected to include savings in power usage and it would fit in better with school holidays - daylight saving currently begins the day before school goes back for the fourth term.
"But as important as energy savings are to New Zealanders, the essential thing for most will be that summer will be longer."
New Zealand has had 24 weeks of daylight saving since 1990, on top of the half hour of standard daylight savings since 1941.
The decision follows a petition with more than 40,000 signatures calling for three extra weeks, presented to Parliament last month by Nelson City Councillor Mark Holmes and United Future leader Peter Dunne.
Yesterday, Mr Dunne said he was delighted at the Government's response to the clear support for the move, which would help reduce energy usage and have psychological benefits for summer lovers.
Mr Barker noted even traditional detractors had backed down.
Farmers have been against daylight saving because of the disruption to operations such as milking.
However, Mr Barker said Federated Farmers had contacted him to say they were not opposed to an extension.
The decision was yesterday also welcomed by the tourism industry who have urged more daylight saving to lengthen the peak season and boost visitor spending.
Tourism Industry Association chief executive Fiona Luhrs said surveys of the group's 2000 members showed the majority were in favour of extending daylight saving.
"The weather in late summer is usually warm and settled.
"But to many people, the end of daylight saving means the end of summer.
"Extending daylight saving will encourage visitors to keep enjoying New Zealand's fantastic outdoor attractions and activities for longer into the evenings."
She said it would bring New Zealand into line with other countries including Australia, Britain and western Europe.
Mr Barker said the Department of Internal Affairs would monitor the impact of the extra three weeks on energy usage, as well as researching its impacts in other countries.
Recent research by Berkeley University in California on extended daylight savings in New South Wales during 2000 indicated that any savings in the evening were offset by a boost in power use in the darker mornings.
It was the first change to daylight saving since 1990 and while the Government could guarantee the quantity of summer, Mr Barker could not make any such assurances about the quality.
"So for New Zealand this year, summer will start one week earlier and finish two weeks later, and I think it's up to the weatherman to confirm how good it is."
He said his department would draft the necessary regulations and advise businesses affected by the change, including computer companies, to prevent any problems in computer systems incorporating the time changes at different dates.
Summertime
* Daylight saving will last for 27 weeks - up from 24.
* Start: 2am on September 30.
* Finish: 3am on April 6, 2008.
