What is Warmer Kiwi Homes?
It's run by EECA, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (Te Tari Tiaki Pūngao). EECA says the programme began in 2009 and that its main aim is to tackle energy hardship among vulnerable middle-low-income homeowners, by improving the energy performance of their homes.
Heat pumps are now the bulk of its heating work. In EECA's last financial year, more than 90% of the heating installations finished under the programme were heat pumps.
We're not part of EECA or the Government, and we can't tell you if you qualify. This page sums up what EECA itself has published, and it says plainly where we couldn't confirm something.
Who can get a Warmer Kiwi Homes grant?
It's for homeowners living in their own home. Rentals aren't part of it: a landlord's heating duties sit under the healthy homes standards, which our healthy homes heating guide explains.
EECA has described two routes in. In a July 2023 letter, it said owner-occupied houses in lower-income areas were eligible, and that a homeowner holding a Community Services Card was eligible wherever they lived. EECA's March 2026 records of heating grants note, for each one, whether the household held a Community Services Card or a SuperGold Combo Card, and the deprivation zone of the property.
Lower-income areas are set with the New Zealand Deprivation Index, which scores small census areas called mesh blocks from 1, the least deprived, to 10, the most. EECA keeps no written list of them and shows the zones on online maps instead. Since 1 July 2025 it has used 2023 Census data for those zones, after earlier using the 2013 and 2018 Census, so an older answer about your address may no longer hold.
EECA called the low-income area "one of the eligibility criteria", so there's more to qualifying than your address. Its current programme page sets out the full list, but that page wouldn't open for us, so we haven't repeated rules we couldn't check there. In March 2026 EECA said it had made no exceptions to its criteria.
What heat pumps does the programme cover?
EECA's papers describe Warmer Kiwi Homes funding paying for insulation retrofits as well as heat pumps. For heating, the approved list is what matters.
EECA's Warmer Kiwi Homes Approved Heat Pump Models list for 2026-27 covers models effective from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, and was last updated on 9 July 2026. Every model on it is a high-wall heat pump, in nominal sizes from 3.5 to 8 kW of rated cooling capacity. There are no ducted, floor console or multi-room systems on it. If that's what you want, our ducted heat pump page covers buying one yourself.
For each model, the list also gives its heating capacity at 7 degrees, the same test point as the Zoned Energy Rating Label. That's the number to hold up against the room you want heated, and our sizing guide shows how.
Wood burners and grant figures
Wood and pellet burners are no longer funded. EECA stopped taking new applications to install them on 9 January 2026, so an offer of a Warmer Kiwi Homes burner grant is out of date.
We don't quote how much of a job the grant covers. Council, installer and blog pages show figures that conflict and go stale, and EECA sets them. If you're eligible, get the grant amount and anything left for you to pay confirmed in writing before work starts.
How to check, and what happens next
Start with EECA, not an installer
Use the eligibility check on EECA's website. EECA pointed people there when asked about qualifying areas, and it's EECA's decision, so EECA's answer is the only one that counts.
Have your details ready
Your address, and your Community Services Card or SuperGold Combo Card if you hold one.
If you're eligible, it goes through EECA's service providers
EECA runs the programme through service providers it contracts, and they have to follow EECA's installation specifications. Ask them what happens next and how long it's likely to take, especially heading into winter.
Keep the paperwork
A grant-funded heat pump still has to be connected by a registered electrical worker, who must give you a Certificate of Compliance no later than 20 days after the work. You should get an Electrical Safety Certificate too. Keep both with the warranty.
If you're not eligible
You can still buy a heat pump yourself. Size it to the room, compare the label's Cold zone stars, and get a written quote from someone who installs that type every week. Our installer guide and quote guide help with both.
Be wary if someone tells you
- They're from Warmer Kiwi Homes or the Government, and you qualify before EECA has checked anything.
- A grant will cover a ducted or floor console heat pump. Nothing on EECA's 2026-27 list is either.
- You can still get a Warmer Kiwi Homes wood burner. New burner applications stopped on 9 January 2026.
- Your rental can get the grant. The programme is for homeowners living in the home.
- You have to sign today. If a trader you didn't invite signs you up at the door or over the phone, the uninvited direct sale rules let you cancel within 5 working days of getting your copy of the agreement.
Your part, and the service provider's
You can
- Run EECA's eligibility check yourself.
- Find your Community Services Card or SuperGold Combo Card, if you have one.
- Note which room you most need heated and roughly how big it is.
- If you're in a unit title, check the body corporate rules for outdoor units.
- Keep the Certificate of Compliance and the Electrical Safety Certificate.
Leave to a licensed installer
- Sizing the heat pump to the room.
- Installing it to EECA's specifications.
- The refrigerant pipework and charging.
- The electrical connection and its certificates.
What we'd do
Where we'd start
If there's any chance you qualify, we'd check with EECA before getting a single quote, because grant-funded work runs through the service providers EECA contracts. If the answer is no, we'd stop chasing grant offers and put the effort into sizing the heat pump properly instead. Consumer NZ says split systems work best in the main living area of an open-plan home, and that's where we'd put the first one.