Fuel poverty in New Zealand

[Kiakaha_Chch]

That article doesn't surprise me one bit, in fact its a portion of the reason why my husband and I left Christchurch for Canada. My entire life I have always lived in freezing cold mouldy drafty housing and recently - rediculous rent hikes in an earthquake damaged house. It just wasn't worth it. And Ive also had asthma my entire life and if it weren't for the flu vacine my life would be a misery 9 months of the year.
My husband on the other hand grew up poor to middle class in Winnipeg, got his first job at a Shell service station where the winter tempteratures were -60 C, yet he managed to afford a nice cheap flat on his own that had double glazing, wall and ceiling AND underfloor insulation. Last year he even lived in a cheap flat with copper pipes with hot water under the floor! A luxury Ive never heard of in NZ!

Guess whose moving to Canada?

[waterford viking]

Originally Posted by inhamilton

Personally, I can't see the usefulness. I can get you to name any country in the world and google for similar newspaper stories of poverty within that country (including England). Immigrants to NZ will generally have a pretty good standard of living (in my opinion - based on what I know of here and my travels through other countries) as most will be receiving a good salary (they generally have to in order to get in).

Spoken like a true kiwi.....trust me if you come from europe where housing is insulated, ventilated and has double glazing or even triple glazing as is the norm now in alot of places then you will be dumbfounded at the crap that kiwis live in. Trailers come to mind. From what I know of living in nz myself and family were never so sick all the time from coughs colds general illness from dealing with the dreadful living conditions there. ( we had a brand new house which still amounted to crap)....starjumps and longjohns to keep warm...PLEASE...gimme a break nz, it's the 21st century.

[Krazyspence]

TopCat - Very lucky then!! im guessing the internet connection you have there is better than most places in NZ!

[anski]

Originally Posted by waterford viking

Spoken like a true kiwi.....trust me if you come from europe where housing is insulated, ventilated and has double glazing or even triple glazing as is the norm now in alot of places then you will be dumbfounded at the crap that kiwis live in. Trailers come to mind. From what I know of living in nz myself and family were never so sick all the time from coughs colds general illness from dealing with the dreadful living conditions there. ( we had a brand new house which still amounted to crap)....starjumps and longjohns to keep warm...PLEASE...gimme a break nz, it's the 21st century.

True there are houses in NZ that are inadequate for the weather but I still remember England 7 the winter of 1978/79 (one of those severe winters) . I went to visit my mother who lived in a council house. No insulation, no double glazing, outside toilet & 3 bar gas fire in living room only. Get the picture.
Temperature was below freezing. I have never felt so cold & sick in my life. My mother went down with pneumonia & died.

I cannot say I enjoyed my visit, it was just before Margaret Thatcher was elected & the country was chaotic with strikes, no transport, no salt or gritting of roads & black ice everywhere. Fortunately I had extended my car hire otherwise I would not have been able to get to Heathrow.

Many of you are too young to remember what old houses in UK were like pre central heating & double glazing but life was certainly not pleasant in those days, however I agree with the UK's weather you certainly need it.
Comparing NZ to the UK or Europe is like apples to pears as the only parts of NZ that resemble these in terms of weather is the South Island.

[carosapien]

Are you saying that New Zealand is like Britain was 40 years ago? I'd agree with that.

My in-laws have been in their 1960s built house since 1972.

Not long after they moved in they had cavity wall and loft insulation installed and replaced the gas central heating boiler with a more fuel efficient gas version. They got rid of the coal hole and turned it into a laundry room.

In the early 80s they had good quality Everest double glazing installed, it had multi-point locking and was internally glazed. It was good enough to keep out an attempted break in 20 years later as well as keep the house warm and draught free.

They had a gas fire in the lounge which lasted until about 2 years ago when they decided to get something that didn't have a pilot flame.

Having a gas fire in the lounge room is still a novelty in New Zealand as many homes don't even have a reticulated gas supply.

[anski]

Originally Posted by carosapien

Are you saying that New Zealand is like Britain was 40 years ago? I'd agree with that.

My in-laws have been in their 1960s built house since 1972.

Not long after they moved in they had cavity wall and loft insulation installed and replaced the gas central heating boiler with a more fuel efficient gas version. They got rid of the coal hole and turned it into a laundry room.

In the early 80s they had good quality Everest double glazing installed, it had multi-point locking and was internally glazed. It was good enough to keep out an attempted break in 20 years later as well as keep the house warm and draught free.

They had a gas fire in the lounge which lasted until about 2 years ago when they decided to get something that didn't have a pilot flame.

Having a gas fire in the lounge room is still a novelty in New Zealand as many homes don't even have a reticulated gas supply.

The point I was trying to make is when so many Brits sling off about the NZ houses & lack of heating was that it was not that very long ago it was like that in many old homes in the UK where the winters are more severe.

NZ winters in many parts of the North Island are nowhere near as severe or as long as the UK.

We bought our 1931 double brick built house in Auckland 11 years ago from a couple in their 80's whom had lived in the house all their married life without insulation & just a fire in the lounge, & we experienced discomfort our first winter there.

However since then we have installed insulation & gas central heating throughout & lovely & cosy now. Keep in mind some people cannot afford the outlay.

[Song_Si]

Originally Posted by carosapien

Having a gas fire in the lounge room is still a novelty in New Zealand as many homes don't even have a reticulated gas supply.

don't know where you live - but natural gas has been readily available in some parts since the 1970s - I know we had gas cooking and two gas heaters one in each lounge in my childhood days in Taranaki - where the first big oil/gas finds were, and gradually the pipelines extended throughout much of the north island, plus the option of the LPG cylinders for those not on the pipeline.

Just over 20%, 350,000 out of 1.6m NZ homes are connected to gas.

How many NZ homes/buildings already use gas?
Around 350,000 homes across the country are connected to gas. Some 120,000-130,000 properties have LPG twin-pack cylinders, while over 220,000 homes and small businesses use natural gas. And that doesn’t count the hundreds of thousands of homes that use LPG cabinet heaters, nor the number big businesses that use gas for a variety of space and water heating, and process purposes.

[anski]

Originally Posted by Song_Si

don't know where you live - but natural gas has been readily available in some parts since the 1970s - I know we had gas cooking and two gas heaters one in each lounge in my childhood days in Taranaki - where the first big oil/gas finds were, and gradually the pipelines extended throughout much of the north island, plus the option of the LPG cylinders for those not on the pipeline.

Just over 20%, 350,000 out of 1.6m NZ homes are connected to gas.

AND so much cheaper than electricity, I have gas infinity hot water, cooking & central heating. Would not be without my gas & only cost $3,000 to connect to gas supply & installation & supply of gas infinity water heater a few years ago.

[Weta]

Originally Posted by anski

The point I was trying to make is when so many Brits sling off about the NZ houses & lack of heating was that it was not that very long ago it was like that in many old homes in the UK where the winters are more severe.

The only point you made was a reference to the winter of discontent, that is more than half a lifetime away for many people. I am old enough to remember it well enough, my parents had gas central heating in 1971 and they were not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

In many ways when it comes to home comforts then I would have to agree NZ is stuck in the 1970s, the world has moved on whilst NZ was sleeping and is only just waking up to the idea of heating at the touch of a button. Aside from the affordabilty issues, being martyrs to the cold and damp conditions seems to be a national NZ pastime and is reflected, I feel, in the general well-being and disposition of large percentage of the population.

[Weta]

Originally Posted by Song_Si

Just over 20%, 350,000 out of 1.6m NZ homes are connected to gas.

120,000 to 130,000 of those are LPG bottled gas which to my mind does not compute as being 'connected to gas' as your quote suggested. It's really nothing to write home or get excited about, people in caravans and trailer parks often have better facilities and services than NZ homes.