Power bill costs in Whanganui

Whanganui has some of the most affordable housing in the North Island, and that affordability comes attached to a power bill consequence people do not always anticipate. Cheap houses are usually old houses, and Whanganui has a great many of them: substantial timber villas and bungalows from the river city's prosperous decades, generously sized, high-ceilinged, and built long before anyone thought to put anything in the walls.

A large old house is expensive to heat regardless of what heats it, because the volume of air is large and the barrier between inside and outside is thin. The most effective response is usually the least appealing one: heat the rooms that are genuinely in use, close the doors on the ones that are not, and stop treating whole-house warmth as the target. A modern insulated home can be heated throughout for a sensible cost. A 1910 villa generally cannot.

Before spending on a bigger heat pump, spend on the ceiling. Insulation in an uninsulated Whanganui villa returns more than any appliance upgrade available, and underfloor insulation with a ground vapour barrier follows closely behind, because these houses sit on piles over bare earth and moisture comes up through the floor all winter.

Powerco runs the Whanganui network and the rate sits close to the national average.

The river is the local climatic feature and it works against you. Whanganui gets fog and still, damp mornings through the colder months, and damp air costs more to heat and feels colder than the same air dry. Extraction over showers and cooking, plus a dehumidifier in the worst-affected rooms, is cheaper than driving the moisture out with a heater.

The climate is otherwise fairly benign. Frosts occur but are not severe or prolonged, which means a heat pump here operates efficiently for most of the winter and is comfortably the cheapest heat available once the building has been dealt with.

Whanganui also has an older-than-average population, and a household that is home all day heats for far more hours than one that is out at work. That is a reason to make each heated hour cheaper rather than a reason to go cold, which in a damp old house is a genuine health risk as well as a false economy. Insulate, seal the draughts, and put the heat where people actually are.