Steve Evans: Fletcher Living CEO on the launch of a solar-powered no bill housing model
episodeTranscript
jump: chapters · speakers · find in transcriptTranscript
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the new solar-powered housing model being launched by Fletcher Living?
Now, interesting trial from Fletcher Living. They're launching a pilot to test if a house could operate off solar and battery for five years and end up with zero power bills. Steve Evans is Fletcher Living's chief executive. Hi, Steve. Good morning, Hannah. How are you? I'm well, thank you. So explain to me how you're running this test.
So effectively we've built two houses down in Lincoln, down in Christchurch, which are absolutely identical apart from one thing, which is that we put a 12 kilowatt hour solar array and Tesla battery system into one and created a partnership with a company called Octopus Energy. And the view is that we will provide the customer with a zero electricity bill solution for at least five years. So for us, it's just another part of the journey of how do we help our customers in this cost-living crisis? How do we address people's confusion with solar and what it lends and is it worth it and all of those kind of things? So we're announcing it today. We're opening it up to the public as of tomorrow and hope that it will form the next part of the journey towards more people being able to explore this type of solution.
Steve, what happens after five years?
How does the solar and battery system work in the pilot project?
Well, the batteries themselves or the solar system itself is guaranteed for 10 and actually has a life of 25 years. We chose five years just because customers don't necessarily want to be tied into a system with a particular provider for more than that five-year period. So we believe that the process will continue on and on and the customer will continue to seek the benefit or reap the benefit of the system.
Okay, zero bills does not mean zero cost, right? So what is the cost of the outlay for the solar and the battery?
So the cost at the moment is just under $30,000. We believe that means that the saving in our calculation is just over $3,000 a year. So in simple terms, that means about a 10-year payback. The reality of this pilot is that it was done without the benefit of further bulk discounts you'd get with the outscale that you'd get. And so we envisage that those costs will come down. However, the key thing from us is that Our customers get the benefit of not having $3,000 in bills. That means that either they have more money to spend on the things they like in life, or alternatively, we go to the banks and we say, look, your spend per month, per year is now down, and therefore the benefit should be in the way in which the banks look at funding.
Yeah, excellent. Hey, Steve, thank you.
What happens after the initial five years of the solar housing pilot?
It's been great to talk to you. Good luck with it. I'm looking forward to see how it goes.
Steve Evans, Fletcher Living Chief Executive.
No segments match your search.
Select any passage to copy it with its citation or turn it into a shareable card.
Chapters
3 chaptersSpeakers
2 identifiedMore from The Mike Hosking Breakfast
Full Show Podcast: 15 September 2026
Anand Menon: King's College European Politics and Foreign Affairs Professor on the leaders of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland pushing for independence from UK
John Stevenson: Fonterra Co-operative Council Chair on global milk production growth slowing
Tobias Tohill: UVisa Immigration Advisor on net migration hitting highest level in two years at 20,300
Hamish Firth: Mt Hobson Group Urban Planning Specialist on the Government amending the fast-track system
Louise Upston: Tourism Minister on July visitor numbers surpassing pre-Covid levels