Smart off-peak electricity use can greatly help reduce emissions.
This opinion piece from Mike Fuge, CEO of Contact Energy, is the second in a series of eight looking at the effort to reduce emissions.
Here's a question: do you know where your power comes from?
Not just how it gets to your home, but how it is generated – where it really comes from.
You may be surprised to learn that all electricity, no matter how it is generated, is put into the same system and then delivered to your home. That means that all electricity retailers in Aotearoa buy electricity from the same pool. So, no matter the energy company you're with, your home is powered by the same mix of renewable and non-renewable electricity.
While 85 per cent of New Zealand electricity generation is currently made up of renewable energy, 15 per cent is still generated by fossil fuels. The majority of power generation in Aotearoa comes from renewable sources such as geothermal and hydro, some still comes from gas, coal, and diesel – non-renewable fossil fuels.
At Contact, we're working to shift the dial towards more renewable energy and transform how we are generating power in two key ways.
First, we are building more renewable electricity while removing old fossil-fuelled power stations. Second, we are helping our customers to better understand how they can reduce the likelihood of using power generated by fossil fuels while at home.
Our Tauhara geothermal power station and our new unit at Te Huka are set to contribute to a greener mix of electricity. Located in Taupō, the geothermal stations are expected to displace over 650,000 tons of carbon emissions per year. This is equivalent to removing over 280,000 petrol cars from our roads.
By building Tauhara and Te Huka, Contact is adding to its existing renewable generation portfolio. Through our geothermal power stations, we already supply 8 per cent of New Zealand's electricity. Once Tauhara and Te Huka come online, that will increase to around 12.5 per cent.
So our national generation mix is becoming greener. But, with fossil fuels still contributing to our at-home energy usage, what can Kiwi whānau do to be more environmentally conscious when using electricity?
Simple answer: use energy at off-peak times. Most people get home from work and crank the heating, cook dinner, and put some washing on. This creates peak demand in the evenings and the mornings when the same thing happens as people wake up and get ready for work.
Peak times fluctuate a bit between seasons, and regions, but these peaks create a problem. With people across the country all using power at the same time, we need to access all of our national electricity generation to keep the lights on.
As a general rule, renewable generation is always used first but, as soon as demand begins to spike, non-renewable generation is accessed and used to top up electricity demand.
While it can be challenging to shift your power usage outside of these times, the more you can shift your power usage to off-peak times, the less fossil fuel generation is used and the greener our electricity becomes.
This is where Contact is working hard to continue to shift the dial and encourage Kiwi whānau to go green. We have initiatives like our Good Nights plan, which offers customers free power from 9pm to midnight every night – a time when they are less likely to use power generated by fossil fuels.
Demand for electricity is increasing in Aotearoa too. Electric vehicles (EVs) are more popular than ever as Kiwis do their bit to reduce national carbon emissions. This shift to electric means vehicles need to be charged – more power usage.
To reduce the likelihood of well-intentioned EV owners inadvertently using fossil fuels to charge their vehicles and encourage them to charge at times when they are more likely to be using renewable energy, we've launched a new initiative called Dream Charge.
From today, Contact customers who sign up for Dream Charge will be able to access cheaper electricity rates between 11pm-7am every night of the week. The plan ensures that you're not only making an environmentally-friendly transport decision but you are also charging it at the most environmentally-friendly time of the day that is cost-effective as well.
Research shows that 82 per cent of people most commonly charge their EV at home, so we want to help make home the best place to charge an EV by encouraging off-peak, environmentally-conscious charging.
We're committed to helping improve the future of Aotearoa – through building more clean, renewable power generation, and by helping our customers find the most environmentally friendly and cheapest times to use energy in their homes.
Shifting to using power at off peak times is a small change we can all make to collectively contribute to making Aotearoa a better place to call home.
To find out more about Dream Charge, or sign up, click here.