Solar Panel Guides for New Zealand (September 2026)

New Zealand buys solar without a subsidy to anchor the decision: there is no national rebate, so the maths rests on what you pay per kWh, what your retailer pays for export, and how much of your own generation you can use yourself. Buyback rates are set by each retailer, not by regulation, and the spread between them is wide enough to change which system pays — so these guides keep the retailer, the rate and the date together.

Connection is the other half. Distributed generation runs through your local lines company under Part 6 of the Electricity Industry Participation Code, not through any national body, and the metering that export requires is part of that application. Where a figure depends on your retailer or your network, we say so rather than publishing one number as though it were national.

18 guides published. Methodology as everywhere on this site: how we verify.