23 July 2026
LETS Newsletter No 27
Newsletter No.27 July 2026
Committee News
Co-Chair Sam Kivi presenting our guest speaker Sam Elder with a thank you gift at the AGM. Photo Credit Margarita Parra
Hi Everyone,
Thanks to everyone who attended our AGM. If you weren’t able to attend here are the links to all the material that was presented.
In the body of this newsletter is a summary of our guest speaker Sam Elder’s presentation.
Prior to the AGM we had one final committee meeting. Here is the link to our latest minutes from our June meeting.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IwNCd6AgXVoZjyb-BChc2bhR4ESB1dPw/view?usp=sharing
Since the AGM you may have seen that LETS was nominated for a Matariki Taonga Award. We were a finalist in the category “Solidarity”. The section was won by Carolyn Tapley from Canterbury Coast Guard. We were very honoured to have been nominated and on the evening we were represented by Co-Chair Sam Kivi and former Co-Chair Pat Scott. By all accounts it was a wonderful evening celebrating special residents from Whakaraupō. Thanks to the LHBA for hosting this great community event.
Your new committee will meet shortly to plan the year ahead. We have one new committee member. Welcome to Jeremy Webb. The committee will meet on Monday July 27th at 7pm at our regular location at Project Lyttelton. All members are welcome to attend.
Wendy, Sam, Greg, Juliet, Tony, Margarita, Raymond, Dana and Jeremy.
Hot Water Heat Pumps; Why, What, How, Who.
LETS members are invited to this event by The Canterbury Chapter of the Passive House Institute of New Zealand (PHINZ) in collaboration with Electrify Christchurch.
Are you interested in energy efficient hot water, but don't know where to start?
We all want to live in comfortable homes and a hot shower, and a warm bath is one of the joys of life. However, with so many different Hot Water Heat Pumps (HWHP) on the market and so many claims, it’s a confusing choice out there for specifiers, let alone buyers.
The Canterbury Chapter of the Passive House Institute of New Zealand (PHINZ) in association with Electrify Christchurch will be hosting a hot water heat pump seminar at 16:00 on Wednesday 22nd July 2026 at The Welder, 20 Welles Street.
The purpose of this event is to help everyone attending to understand these energy efficient machines better, so they can make more informed choices now and in the future.
The format will be:
- Introductions by Damien McGill on behalf of PHINZ and Michael Anderson on behalf of Electrify Christchurch.
- Bhawesh Singh explaining in simple terms what HWHPs are, how they work and why they are so efficient, including discussing different construction and refrigerant options along with their benefits.
- Daniel Barber from EECA providing an update on their HWHP Research.
- Four Suppliers introducing their businesses and discussing their particular HWHP products.
· Marcus South - Warmth NZ
· Chris Mardon - Ecobulb
· Blair Reed - Stiebel Eltron
· Samantha Russell - Fisher & Paykel
- Q&A
- Drinks and discussions with suppliers.
This will be approximately a two-hour event and there will be at least one HWHP there on display for everyone to get up close and personal with.
What Happened at Re-Energising?
The Canterbury Energy Wellbeing Collective (CEWC) organised the "Re-energising! Local action to accelerate energy transitions" event on June 16, 2026, at Tūranga, Ōtautahi Christchurch, to bring together locals interested in discussing our actions towards the energy transition. Building on previous local leadership by the Collective, the Energy Activator and other initiatives, the organisers invited expert speakers from academia, government, and the energy sector to provide ideas, insights and examples of actions we can take to tackle energy affordability, decarbonisation and resilience.
One key insight from the evening is that our region Waitaha Canterbury has the technical means to become energy independent using existing technologies like solar, heat pumps, and transitioning to electric vehicles. Further, there was a call to ensure we bring everyone and make it a just transition. People in renting conditions and lower income need to have options to access these new technologies and community energy is one of those solutions. At LETS we are interested in taking this energy from the event and continue to build on our local projects figuring out how to pass benefits to those that can’t afford solar yet.
For more details on the event check here for the transcript. With about 180 participants, the event had the support of Orion and the Christchurch City Council, both members of CEWC.
For more information about CEWC and our early members check theEnergy Hub website. CEWC was first convened in 2022 as an informal platform for collective action towards a more equitable energy transition.
Report by Margarita Parra.
Attendees at Re-Energising. Photo credit Margarita Parra
Towards a New Energy Democracy
Unlocking the power of people and places
to accelerate just transitions
Sam Elder Guest Speaker at LETS 2026 AGM
Slide from Sam Elder’s Presentation. Photo Credit Sam Elder
Sam’s presentation was very thought provoking. Is NZ’s energy system heading in the right direction and if it isn’t how does it get turned around? Sam always talks about the energy trilemma. How do you have a system that is fair for everyone, enables decarbonisation and is secure and resilient? Our current system sees energy resilience compromised due to gas running out, it sees poor energy equity with those having money getting solar and EVs etc and those without the means often in energy poverty and sees coal and LNG as solutions to dry years and petrol cars still favoured over EVs.
At the core of her presentation was how does civil society get the sort of energy system it requires? In the past systems have been designed top down and people have just taken what they have been given. In our rapidly transforming system where renewables enable civil society including Māori, to be players, how can we move this complex system to get the best from it for everyone?
At the core she believes we need a shared vision that is driven by civil society & Māori. The dilemma at the minute is it is very difficult for civil society to participate because there are so few spaces to engage on this issue. Everything is controlled by the groups with vested interests. Why would the government and the gentailers want anything to change when they earn large sums of money from the existing arrangement?
Sam is excited at the opportunities this dilemma presents for LETS. We are one of the few community led groups dealing with the issue of creating localised energy networks. In her opinion it’s the grass roots democratic groups that can really help turn things around. From the Marae with their resilient hubs to local communities like Lyttelton putting their hands up and letting the decision makers know that we want an energy transition that is just, carbon friendly and resilient.
The key will be to encourage other communities to join with us. All regions need Energy Wellbeing Collectives or Energy Hubs where the wider public can join in and learn about the new energy system that is possible. These groups need to feed their ideas to the national level. It is clear already that the community members who can see the future support these new distributed energy networks that are localised and benefit all. To make this happen the Electricity Authority has to know that many communities want to be on this path. In a recent consultation the industry groups want things to stay the same. The Electricity Authority will only get the courage to make real changes if more communities want localised distributed energy systems. Then we hope we will see the changes needed to make these systems happen ie removing barriers to local energy sharing & community batteries (network pricing; local market supplier) plus innovative funding and financing models for local, community & shared ownership.
Sam sees these community models extending beyond energy outcomes to help strengthen our communities in general. Strengthening democracy, building social cohesion, community resilience and community wealth. Success will come when we work collaboratively together. She believes that LETS has a real opportunity to lead in this window and to be an inspiration and exemplar for other communities to follow suit.
Stories of Change
Attendees at the Untouched World Foundation Stories of Change Rapaki Marae.Photo credit Margarita Parra
This month the LETS team have been actively engaging with two groups of young adults. Margarita was invited to Rapaki Marae to inspire young leaders from the Untouched World Foundation on what’s possible for them to achieve in their communities. With a Pecha Kucha presentation she told the LETS story.
*“The programme brings together rangatahi from across the wider Canterbury area to explore environmental leadership through the lens of the Whakaraupō Catchment. We look to deepen their understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the harbour, and develop the confidence, skills and connections needed to become active contributors to a thriving and resilient future.” Untouched World Foundation*
LETS have also joined in with another team of young people from the University of Canterbury. Third year Geography students are going to do some basic research for LETS. This is the brief we have given them.
The Big Question is: What is the solar potential of Whakaraupō/ broader Lyttelton? The more social science question is what are the caps or limits on the potential? Are they more geological (e.g. the crater rim shades areas of the valleys)? Or more political-economic (e.g. the grid infrastructure can only absorb so much distributed power)? The smaller questions include, but are not limited to: what is the geography of the current centralised electricity grid in
Whakaraupō? Which houses/ businesses/farms are linked to which power generation transformers? Within those boundaries, how are the currently existing solar installations distributed?
Margarita and Wendy will work alongside the students and LETS Member Ann Brower will be their University facilitator. The student results will be shared on October 3rd.
This is a very interesting book that was lent to LETS recently. Written from a New Zealand context, it is very informative. You learn the history of our once centralised electricity sector through to the current day semi-privatised model. You discover how the semi-privatised asset shifting model has created two sorts of customer. The ones who can afford power and the ones who can’t. You learn how the once centralised system is broken up into little pieces with very little incentive for generators to produce more power so that prices remain high and we the consumer pays more for electricity.
The advent of cheaper solar and batteries however has changed the dynamics of the semi privatised system. Now many citizens and communities have the option of taking control over their energy futures.
The book describes some very interesting trials that have been run throughout NZ to figure out how to share this distributed power with your neighbours. The former government had a community energy fund established to explore community energy systems at marae and in communities. The book details the success and failures of those.
This book highlights how this new distributed world of energy could be the opportunity for NZ’s power grid to serve everyone again. To get there we require greater regulation of the system so that all the players have equal knowledge of the total system and a shared vision politically for where we all want to be.
If you would like to check out this book for yourself, it’s available at Tūranga in the reference collection.
Passive Solar House - Tour Diamond Harbour
The Passive House Institute of New Zealand invites LETS members and Lyttelton friends to attend a visit to a house seeking Passive House certification in Diamond Harbour. At the event participants will hear from Think Solar and Rewiring Aotearoa. This is a great opportunity to learn and ask any questions you may have!
Date: August 26th at 5 pm
Place: Gathering at Two Thumbs Harbourside to travel to the house
Special request: For those traveling by EV we are looking for car sharing rides to the house. If you can help out please let us know via email communityenergylytt@gmail.com
Rewiring Aotearoa is sponsoring Electrify Expos throughout New Zealand. For Christchurch this involves all three affiliated Rewiring Aotearoa groups working collectively to produce this event. The Expo is in the planning stages now. The event will take place at the Wigram Air Force Base. It’s anticipated to be a day where you can find everything under one roof about electrification. You can expect information and displays on EVs, solar systems, hot water systems, community energy organisations and government bodies who deal with energy. The expo will be a fun one stop shop for the public featuring talks, demonstrations, product information and family friendly activities.
HOW CAN YOU HELP NOW?
If you would like to be a sponsor or an exhibitor Dr Jeremy Webb would like to hear from you now. He can be contacted on**ElectrifyChristchurchExpo@gmail.com**or 020 408 64 253
If you would like information on how to be a sponsor or exhibitor just click on the links below.
Dates for your Diary
July 22**Hot Water Heat Pumps; Why, What, How, Who. 4pm**
July 27 LETS Committee Meeting 7pm
August 26th Passive Solar House Tour Diamond Harbour 5pm
September 2nd**Solar: Energy of Tomorrow**Webinar
Oct 8th What is Community Energy? Tūranga 5.30pm -7pm
Oct 11**Electrify Expo**
Membership
If you would like to join LETS and haven’t yet, here is a link to our membership application It’s very affordable, only $20 or $5 unwaged and you’ll be helping to shape the future of Community Energy in Aotearoa. Donations are also gratefully accepted and are tax deductible. Thank you.
All members are welcome to sign up to our LETS WhatsApp Group. In this group we share networking opportunities and informative articles/podcasts. If you are interested please text Wendy 021 0476144.
Facebook Lyttelton Energy Transition Society -LETS
For links to our web page and email please click on the links at the bottom of the newsletter.
Do you have any news or events energy related that you’d like included in this monthly broadcast? Please email Wendy communityenergylytt@gmail.com
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