If you’re facing high gas prices and limited supply, needing to replace equipment, or planning for a new site, there are practical, effective steps you can take now to cut your energy costs and improve resilience.
The sooner you act, the bigger the benefits. By moving early, businesses across New Zealand are locking in savings faster, getting ahead of the queue for better technologies, and future-proofing their businesses.
Independent support is at hand. Our resources and co-funding can help to alleviate your immediate challenges with gas costs, properly explore the available options, and gain confidence before making an investment decision.
Steps to reducing your piped natural gas costs
Taking a structured approach will help you find solutions that suit your operating environment, minimise disruption, and maximise short- and long-term savings.
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Step 1
Measure your current state and optimise efficiency
It’s vital to understand your current energy usage, so you can implement efficiency improvements that cut costs quickly, and right-size any investment into longer-term savings.
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Step 2
Explore and validate your options
Once you’ve tightened up efficiency, you’ll be ready to explore alternative fuels and technologies, and validate the best-fit option to gain confidence ahead of investing.
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Step 3
Find funding to implement your selected solution
Under the government-backed Gas Transition Loan Guarantee Scheme, more favourable lending terms are available for businesses operating in New Zealand that are using piped natural gas. There are also other sources of funding to consider.
1. Measure and optimise
You’ll save more money now and over the long run by ensuring you measure your energy usage and optimise efficiency. If you plan to invest in any new fuels, equipment or technology, optimising efficiency will ensure you can right-size the investment.
Understand your current energy usage to unlock greater savings
While it may be tempting to skip measurement, understanding how you’re currently using piped gas is vital to achieving the highest cost savings possible for your business.
Start by reviewing energy bills, tracking costs and usage, and setting a baseline.
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Use our calculator
With this tool, you can work out a baseline for your energy use, see where energy is being used, gauge how your equipment is performing, and track progress against future improvements.
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Get expert help
Our updated co-funding focuses on helping businesses to identify opportunities for reducing reliance on gas.
If you need support to measure your energy use and find ways to improve efficiency, see if our co-funding is right for your business.
Optimise efficiency with low-cost actions that pay off quickly
There are plenty of low- and no-cost actions you can take to lower your energy spend in 12 months or less, and help with correctly sizing any future investments into cutting gas use.
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Involve your staff
Employees are often the first to spot where energy is being wasted. Engaging them in solutions not only saves energy but also brings everyone along on the journey to a more efficient workplace.
Empowering staff to make smart choices to avoid energy waste can have a huge influence on your energy use and the resilience of your business against rising energy costs and supply issues.
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Maintain your equipment
Well-maintained equipment runs more efficiently and reliably, and fine-tuning how and when you use energy can deliver quick energy savings.
Use our comprehensive checklist to keep equipment in top condition, plus spot cost-effective wins in your processes and scheduling that cut energy waste without affecting productivity.
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Consider co-funded support from energy experts
We offer 4 types of co-funding for reducing reliance on piped natural gas. If you don’t see a good match for your needs here, look at our full offering.
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Walk-through energy audit
A walk-through audit identifies immediate on-site actions to improve efficiency, along with longer-term options for alternative fuels or technologies.
Best when:
- You need quick ways to cut your gas spend, expert advice on next steps, along with high level, indicative savings and costs for fuel or technology options.
- You’re at the start of a journey towards reducing gas use, and need a steer on options to research further once immediate cost-saving actions are in place.
- Your annual spend on piped natural gas is between $30,000 and $250,000.
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Full energy audit
This energy audit evaluates how gas is being used in your process and plant. It also provides detailed data and measurement to support a business case for a capital-intensive upgrade.
This in-depth audit targets specific major subsystems or complex plant equipment.
Best when:
- You are running a complex gas boiler or process heat system.
- You need more certainty on implementation costs and savings.
- Your annual spend on piped natural gas is more than $250,000.
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You may be eligible for more than one type of co-funding, or more than one round, depending on your situation and eligibility.
Want to talk through your options for co-funding? Contact your EECA regional manager or email us at: business@eeca.govt.nz
2. Explore and validate
The sooner you start exploring options and assessing how viable they are for your business, the sooner you’ll be ready to secure your long-term energy future.
Explore options for reducing reliance on piped gas
Switching to renewable energy, upgrading equipment, and adopting new technologies are all possible ways to reduce your reliance on gas over time.
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Get expert support via our co-funding
Our co-funding helps businesses to identify opportunities for reducing reliance on gas.
If you need expert help to find and validate options, see if there's a co-funding option that's right for you.
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Find a professional service provider
Upgrading your technology or switching energy sources can be a big investment, so it’s important you make sound decisions that work for your business in the long term.
To help you get the right professional support, use our list of approved service providers, each specialising in specific areas.
Consider renewable fuel sources
Options such as electrification, biomass, biogas and geothermal can replace gas in heat and process applications.
Alternative heating options — Understand the pros and cons of each option, including wood-fuelled (biomass) boilers, heat pumps, electric boilers, biogas boilers, and hybrid solutions. Alternatives to fossil fuelled heat plants
Geothermal heat — Find out where geoheat is available, which technologies it involves, how businesses are using it, and download a step-by-step guide for adopting geoheat. Geoheat for New Zealand businesses
Biogas and biomethane — Learn about this emerging energy source and how it can be used for process heat, or as a drop-in replacement for natural gas. Biogas energy in New Zealand
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Create an asset replacement strategy
Planning ahead for when assets reach the end of their life means you can make better decisions about managing them over their entire lifespan. (Instead of facing an urgent replacement and associated disruption.)
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Explore energy flexibility
Flexibility measures can lower costs and improve resilience. These include load shifting and demand response, which enables your power provider, or your own energy management system, to dial supply up or down without affecting production.
Learn more about energy flexibility for industrial businesses
See how horticulture business Trevelyan’s uses energy flexibility
Learn from what other businesses have done
These case studies show how New Zealand businesses have cut their gas costs over time, and managed the transition to different fuels or tech.
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Making use of waste heat
Energy audits helped New Zealand Sugar and Goodman Fielder to identify waste heat as an untapped resource that could be recovered, reducing reliance on natural gas.
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Going electric
East Restaurant at Sudima Hotel in Auckland transitioned from gas to electric wok cooking. This switch not only reduced energy consumption but, surprisingly, enhanced the flavour of their dishes.
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Retrofitting hot water heat pumps
Retirement and aged care living provider, Oceania, is upgrading to cleaner technologies in their facilities, primarily by retrofitting hot water heat pumps to move away from gas.
Validate the most promising options for reducing gas use
Our co-funding can help you to identify which options are best for your business and provide a better understanding of technology you’re considering. It can also give you more confidence in the ROI of a fuel-switching, equipment upgrade, or energy efficiency project.
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Consider co-funded support from energy experts to validate options
We offer 4 types of co-funding for reducing reliance on piped natural gas. If you don’t see a good match for your needs here, have a look at our full offering.
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Options assessment
An options assessment helps you to confidently decide on the right next step for your business. It explores your efficiency opportunities and alternative fuel solutions, along with the technical and financial feasibility of each option.
Best when:
- You want expert advice on which option or suite of options will be most viable, including indicative and comparable costings.
- You may have already started thinking about gas reduction options, and need more detail to help with decision-making.
- Your annual spend on piped natural gas is between $30,000 and $400,000.
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Feasibility studies and business cases
Expert support can help with ensuring your feasibility study and/or business case is grounded in rigorous assessment, investigation and analysis. This can give you more confidence ahead of investing or seeking finance.
Best when:
- You want expert advice on which option, or suite of options, will be most viable, including indicative and comparable costings.
- You’ve thoroughly investigated options, selected the best-fit solution for your operation, and need more surety that the business case is robust.
- Your annual spend on piped natural gas is more than $250,000.
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You may be eligible for more than one type of co-funding, or more than one round, depending on your situation and eligibility.
Want to talk through your options for co-funding? Contact your EECA regional manager or email us at business@eeca.govt.nz
3. Find funding to implement your project
Once you’ve got a sound business case or you’ve decided which option you want to proceed with, you may be ready to explore financing options to implement efficiency improvements, upgrade equipment, or transition off gas.
Gas Transition Loan Guarantee Scheme
More favourable lending terms are available for businesses operating in New Zealand that are using piped natural gas.
The Gas Transition Loan Guarantee Scheme is underpinned by a Treasury-led guarantee on bank loans for businesses looking to reduce their reliance on natural gas.
Under the Scheme, eligible businesses can apply for lower interest loans from participating banks to fund capital investments for moving away from piped natural gas or reducing gas usage.
EECA can help businesses identify suitable projects, and develop the technical information and business cases needed to support informed investment and financing discussions.
Who is eligible for the Scheme?
To be eligible, your annual consumption of piped natural gas must be at least 1,000 gigajoules (GJ), and there are other criteria to meet before you can get a loan.
View the full eligibility criteria [PDF 569 KB]
Loan applications will be assessed by participating banks, and their usual credit criteria will apply. Please note, EECA is not providing funding for the capital aspects of eligible projects.
We’ll provide more information as banks release their offers.
Talk to your bank to see if they’re offering loans under the Scheme, and whether this could help you to deliver reductions in gas costs.
More funding options
For other financing options, our directory includes both traditional and alternative finance providers. Examples include loans, leases, energy-as-a-service, and performance-based financing.
View the energy finance provider directory
You’ll also find industry and specialist organisations that offer advice, guidance, training, and consultations on energy-related topics in our support and funding guide.
EECA’s full suite of co-funding for piped gas users
Our co-funding provides independent, tailored advice that helps move gas projects from identifying opportunity through to financial viability.
You may be eligible for more than one type of co-funding, or more than one round, depending on your situation and eligibility.
Please contact your EECA regional manager or email us if you’d like to learn more about our co-funding and your suitability before applying: business@eeca.govt.nz
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Walk-through energy audit
This entry-level audit identifies immediate actions for improving efficiency, and your longer-term options for alternative fuels or technologies.
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Options assessment
This assessment provides an expert analysis of your options for new fuels or technologies, including their technical and financial feasibility.
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Full energy audit
This audit provides detailed data and measurement of how piped gas is used in your process and plant to inform a business case for a new fuel or technology.
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Feasibility studies and business cases
An expert investigation and analysis of the viability of your options for reducing gas reliance can give you more confidence ahead of investing.