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Regions

Heat pumps in OtagoThe coast and the lakes want different things.

Otago is heating country from end to end, but the coast and the lakes ask different things of a heat pump. Dunedin's coastal suburbs see few air frosts, while Queenstown gets ground frosts on most winter nights and sits in the last of the six building climate zones. Size for the nights where you live, not the region as a whole.

What changes across Otago

More heating the further inland you go

NIWA's Otago degree-day table (base 18 degrees) puts Queenstown top at 2,813 heating degree-days a year, then Wānaka Airport at 2,788, Oamaru Airport at 2,760 and Alexandra at 2,749. Dunedin is lowest of the five at 2,559. Cooling barely registers: 22 cooling degree-days in Dunedin, 37 in Queenstown.

Frost changes over short distances

Dunedin Airport, out on the Taieri Plain, averages 66 days a year below 0 degrees. Musselburgh, on the city's coastal side, averages 8. Queenstown averages 47, with a record low of -12.2 degrees.

Two building climate zones

MBIE's energy efficiency Acceptable Solution, H1/AS1 (sixth edition, November 2025), puts Dunedin City in climate zone 5 and Queenstown-Lakes District in zone 6, the last of the six.

Drier homes than most

EHINZ found 16.4% of people in the Southern health district lived in a damp dwelling at the 2023 Census, against 20.6% nationally. Central Otago and Queenstown-Lakes had the lowest share living with large mould of any district, about one in twenty.

Air zones for burners

Otago Regional Council puts central, north and south Dunedin, Mosgiel, Green Island, Port Chalmers and Queenstown in Air Zone 2, where a burner installed after 14 April 2007 must emit less than 1.5 g/kg and be at least 65% efficient. Arrowtown's Air Zone 1 limit is 0.7 g/kg. The limits are on smoke, which a heat pump doesn't make.

No mains gas

Te Waihanga says the South Island lacks natural gas reticulation, so gas heating anywhere in Otago runs on LPG.

What that means for a heat pump here

In Dunedin, heat pumps are already the norm: 77.68% of homes used one as a main type of heating in the 2023 Census. Heritage New Zealand says the city is notable for brick-built houses, so mention the walls when you describe the job.

Inland, frost is the design problem. Mitsubishi Electric NZ says places with sub-zero winters, like most of the South Island, need a bigger heat pump or a model built for the cold. EECA says that where nights fall to 2 degrees or lower, the label's heating capacity at 2 degrees should be no smaller than the figure at 7.

Around the lakes, 48.47% of Queenstown-Lakes homes used a wood burner and 70.22% a heat pump, so plenty run both. Tell the installer which rooms the burner already reaches.

The national rules, as they apply here

Connecting a heat pump is prescribed electrical work for a registered and licensed electrical worker, who owes you a Certificate of Compliance within 20 days of finishing.

Schedule 1 of the Building Act lets a pipe hole up to 300 millimetres across go through an existing house without a building consent, but the Building Code and the district plan, noise limits included, still apply. We don't hold a verified consent or noise position for Dunedin City Council or Queenstown Lakes District Council, so ask yours about anything unusual. In a unit title, the body corporate's rules come first.

Rentals must meet the healthy homes standards, and the heating assessment tool asks for the home's region. Warmer Kiwi Homes is EECA's programme for owner-occupied homes, EECA decides who's eligible, and since 9 January 2026 it hasn't taken new wood or pellet burner applications.

What we'd do

Where we'd start in Otago

We'd start from the coldest night your house actually gets, and our size calculator is a fair first step. On the Taieri or near the lakes, we'd only shortlist heat pumps whose label shows strong output at 2 degrees. Registration-checked installers who fit heat pumps for frosty sites can then see the job, and only the one who takes it gets your details.

Cities in Otago

Ready for the right installer to take a look?

Your postcode and three quick questions. Registration-checked local installers who specialise in your kind of job see it, and the one who takes it gets in touch to quote.

Free for you. Installers pay us for each job we pass on.

Read next

  1. 01Heat pumps in DunedinHeating a Dunedin home with a heat pump: frost by suburb, brick villas, burner rules and sizing.
  2. 02Heat pumps in QueenstownHeating a Queenstown home with a heat pump: frost, snow, burners, air zones and ventilation.
  3. 03What size heat pump do I need?How to work out the kW for a room, and why the 2 degree figure on the label matters.
  4. 04Heat pumps compared with other heatingHow a heat pump stacks up against a wood burner, gas, electric heaters and central heating.
  5. 05Warmer Kiwi Homes heat pump grantsWho EECA's programme is for, what its current heat pump list covers, and how to check before you sign.
  6. 06Do you need a consent for a heat pump?When a heat pump needs a building consent, what applies without one, and the noise limits for outdoor units.

Where this information comes from

We don't publish prices. Every home is different, so an installer's written quote is the only real number. How we write and check these pages.

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