Are free solar panels in NZ actually free?
Free solar panels NZ offers, no-cost solar plans and solar subscriptions explained: who owns the system, what you pay, and how that compares with buying home solar panels.
A free solar panels NZ advert almost never means a company gives you a home solar panel system and walks away. The usual product is a way to put photovoltaic panels on the roof with little or no cash on day one. You still pay. The payment is a monthly fee, a locked-in rate for the solar electricity, a loan repayment, or a mix of those. New Zealand does not have a general residential solar rebate that makes a normal home install cost nothing.
Treat every no cost solar and solar at no cost line as a contract question before you treat it as a gift. Ask who owns the panels, the inverter and the monitoring kit. Ask what you pay each month, for how many years, and what happens if you sell the house, re-roof, or want out early. A free solar panel quote that will not put those answers in writing is not a quote you can compare with a purchase.
The shapes these offers take
Installers and finance firms use different names for similar deals. The hardware on the roof can look the same as a system you buy. The legal and money side does not.
| Offer type | Who owns the gear | What you need in writing |
|---|---|---|
| You buy it, cash or loan | You | Installed price, kW, brands, warranties, exclusions |
| Subscription or lease | Often the provider, until a buyout | Monthly fee, term, buyout price, exit fee, maintenance duty |
| Power purchase style plan | Often the provider | Cents per kWh, term, what happens in a dull month |
| Zero-deposit finance | You, once the loan is in your name | Interest, fees, term, and whether the lender takes security |
What you are really paying for
EECA's public guidance puts a small rooftop system around $8,500 installed (about 3 kW), a medium system around $11,500 (about 5 kW), and a larger system near $20,000 (about 10 kW), before a battery. Those bands include GST and a standard home solar installation. A purchased system in that range is the benchmark. Add up every fee on a free solar installation plan over the full term and put that total next to the band for the same kilowatts.
A plan can still make sense if you cannot or will not use cash or a bank loan, and if the contract leaves you with clear ownership or a fair buyout. It is a poor swap when the lifetime cost is higher, the exit fee is large, and you do not own the solar power system at the end. Read the cost guide for how to read a purchase quote: https://homesolarinstallation.co.nz/blog/solar-panel-cost-nz/
Also ask whether the monthly price rises, whether it is indexed, and whether export credits belong to you or to the provider. If the provider keeps the buy-back, your bill savings are smaller than a neighbour who owns the same array. Current retailer export offers move; check them on Powerswitch: https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/solar-rates
Ownership, the roof, and selling
If you do not own the panels, a buyer of your house is buying a roof with someone else's plant on it. Solicitors ask for the contract. Some buyers will not want a remaining term, a removal fee, or a stranger's right to come onto the property for maintenance. Get the sale clause before you sign, not the week you list the house.
Re-roofing is the other common collision. Panels have to come off and go back. Ask who pays for that removal and reinstall, how many times the contract allows it, and whether a leak from a penetration is the provider's problem or yours. A cheap headline that leaves roof work to you is not comparable with a full solar panel installation quote.
Insurance needs a named owner. If the gear is yours, tell your insurer and check the sum insured. If the gear is the provider's, ask whose policy pays for storm damage and whose pays for water damage inside your ceiling. Gaps show up at claim time.
Maintenance and what happens if the firm stops
A subscription often includes monitoring and repairs while the firm is trading and the contract is current. Write down response times and what counts as a fault. An inverter failure in year six is a different problem from a dirty roof in year two.
Ask what happens to the equipment and the contract if the provider stops trading or sells the book of customers. You want a named path: who services the inverter, who holds the product warranties, and whether you can buy the system for a set price. Verbal comfort is not a term.
Product warranties from the panel and inverter makers are separate from the provider's promise to keep the system working. Collect both. If only the provider is on the hook, and the provider is gone, you may be left with hardware and nobody contracted to fix it.
How to compare a free offer with buying
Put both options on one page. Same kilowatts, same roof, same assumption about daytime use. For the purchase, use the written install price. For the plan, use every payment you are obliged to make, plus any buyout you expect to pay if you want the gear later.
Then look at bill effect. EECA's framing is that a typical home can save about $1,000 or more a year when daytime use is decent, with the Auckland example for a typical 5 kW system around $1,246 a year in their December 2025 regional table. Those are briefing figures, not your result. A plan that keeps export credits, or that charges you a solar rate close to your retail rate, will not deliver that full saving to you.
Green loans and mortgage top-ups from New Zealand banks are the other low-upfront path, and you own the system from the start. Ask your bank for the rate, the interest-free or discounted period, and the fees. Compare that repayment with the subscription fee for the same array. The worth-it guide walks through payback assumptions: https://homesolarinstallation.co.nz/blog/is-solar-worth-it-nz/
Questions that belong in the email
Send these before you pay any signup fee. Keep the replies.
- System size in kW, panel and inverter models, and expected annual kWh for this roof
- Total of all payments over the term, and the buyout price at year five and at the end
- Who owns the system today, and who owns it if I sell or if you stop trading
- Who lodges the distributed generation application and who holds the Electrical Safety Certificate
- Who pays to remove and refit panels for a re-roof, and who repairs roof leaks from the install
- Whether export credits are mine, and which retailer plans I am allowed to use
Northern Auckland and North Shore houses
Solar installers Auckland and Rodney homeowners ask about free solar panels still have to price the actual house. The same contract questions apply in Algies Bay, Arkles Bay, Army Bay, Big Omaha, Coatesville, Dairy Flat, Dome Forest, Dome Valley, Glorit, Gulf Harbour, Hatfields Beach, Helensville, Huapai, Kaukapakapa, Kawau Island, Kumeu, Leigh, Matakana, Muriwai, Omaha, Orewa, Puhoi, Riverhead, Snells Beach, South Head, Waimauku, Warkworth, Wellsford, Bayswater, Belmont, Campbells Bay, Castor Bay, Devonport, Forrest Hill, Hauraki, Milford, Narrow Neck, Stanley Point, Sunnynook and Takapuna. Coastal sections around Orewa, Gulf Harbour, Muriwai, Leigh and Kawau Island add salt and access to the quote. A subscription does not remove those site costs. It only changes who pays them and when.
Home Solar Installation NZ can introduce you to a local partner for a written purchase quote. The form is free and there is no obligation to proceed. Put any no-cost offer beside that quote before you sign a term.
EECA's costs and savings page is the public source for the purchase bands used here: https://www.eeca.govt.nz/for-homes/solar-for-homes/solar-costs-and-savings/