Dunedin businesses are gathering for a showcase to share practical advice on how to reduce energy bills amid a “real shakeup” in the electrical industry.
The free one-day showcase of solutions to rising energy costs and climate change, “Electrify Dunedin”, will be held at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum tomorrow.
It would include two workshops aimed at local businesses looking to cut costs and future-proof their operations, and households wanting to save money on energy bills.
It is part of the nationwide Rewiring Aotearoa tour, organised locally by a volunteer-run community group.
Organiser Louis Brown said prices were forecast to be fairly high over the next two or three years, and the event was an opportunity to give homeowners and businesses products, services and access to information to help them reduce their bills.
“It’s been widely commentated that the electricity industry is undergoing a fairly big change.
“For decades it’s been meat and potatoes, same old, same old — but it’s having a real shakeup at the moment.”
Making the move to electric technology could save both homeowners and businesses money, and the event would showcase practical solutions “available right now, in Dunedin”, Mr Brown said.
It would highlight four local businesses and the steps they had taken to reduce costs — such as switching from grid to solar power, and from internal combustion engines to an electric fleet.
Lesser known solutions included using artificial intelligence to reduce electricity usage.
Mr Brown said he hoped the event would provide local case studies, inspiration and the tools “that they can actually make it happen within their own business”.
Reducing emissions was also a by-product of saving money, he said.
A total of 10 local stallholders including Dunedin Solar, Radcliffe Electrical, Limitless Electrical and Energy Solutions, Proflow Plumbing and Gas, and Aotea Electric would be in attendance on the day.
