October 2026
Whakahiko Ngā Marae Electric Marae
A blueprint for resilience, savings and energy mana motuhake. Marae have always held everyone. It is time the energy system held marae.
Electrifying our marae is a practical, affordable pathway to energy security, mana motuhake, resilience and lower emissions.
Lower bills, cleaner air, and the lights stay on.
$5,000 to $21,000
a year off energy bills when a marae swaps its LPG heating, hot water and cooking for electric
- Around 90%lower emissions from those same machines
- 2 to 9 yearsfor the extra upfront cost of going electric to pay for itself at a smaller marae; under 5 years at a larger one
- Two-thirdsof marae sit in the path of at least one significant natural hazard
The benefits come in five forms
Lower running costs that free up pūtea for our people
Electric machines do the same work on a fraction of the energy, so the savings go back to the marae.
Lower emissions and cleaner air
Switching from gas cuts emissions by around 90% and takes burning gas out of the wharekai, in keeping with our role as kaitiaki.
The lights stay on and the kai keeps cooking
Rooftop solar and a battery keep lighting, refrigeration, cooking and communications running when the grid goes down.
Mana motuhake over our energy
In 2025 just 31% of New Zealand's energy came from renewable sources. Power made on the marae roof is ours.
A stronger energy system for all of Aotearoa
Connected marae can export surplus solar, ease local networks and give rural communities power they control.
Modelled on six example marae. Actual costs and savings depend on each marae's energy needs, location and existing infrastructure.
What an Electric Marae looks like.
Every fossil fuel machine swapped for an electric one, with solar and a battery where possible. It stays on the grid for peaks, for backup, and to export what it does not use.
A drawn marae dining hall with solar panels covering its roof, a battery and a hot water heat pump on its side wall, and an induction range inside the kitchen. A power pole connects it to the grid. Kaumātua flats and a kōhanga reo building share its solar. An electric van charges in the carpark beside a public fast charger, with an electric farm vehicle, a ride-on mower and battery tools in front.
Make and store
Solar on the wharekai roof
The cheapest energy a marae can get, made on its own roof with no layers of distribution to pay for.
A backup-capable battery
Stores the day's sun. Solar with a backup-capable battery keeps lights, fridges, phones and medical equipment running when the lines come down.
Still on the grid
Draws on the grid for the big days, exports the surplus, and stays there as a backstop.
Heat, hot water and kai
Heat pumps
About three to four times the heat of a gas heater for the same energy.
Hot water heat pump
Replaces the gas califonts. Its insulated tank can heat on midday sun and hold it, a kind of thermal battery.
Induction cooking
Cleaner air in the kitchen. A big commercial range needs three-phase power, so check that first.
Move and mahi
EVs and chargers
Electric vans for the marae, charging for whānau, and room for a public charger for people passing through.
Electric ATV, mower and chainsaw
Quieter, no fumes, and spare batteries instead of jerry cans.
Share
Power shared with papakāinga and kōhanga
Kaumātua flats can draw on the marae's solar. Kōhanga reo run in daylight, five days a week, right when solar is making power.
What six example marae could save.
Rewiring Aotearoa modelled six marae, in two sizes and three levels of use, all running on LPG bottles, then switched their heating, hot water and cooking to electric.
What was switched, and how
- Flued gas heaters to heat pumps
- Gas califonts to hot water heat pumps on night rates
- Gas cooktops to electric resistive cooktops, so the marae keeps its pots
- One tangihanga a month at every marae
- Power at 23.7c/kWh for smaller marae and 21.2c/kWh for larger marae
The upfront cost, and how fast it comes back
Smaller marae
3 heaters, 3 water heaters, 2 commercial four-burner cooktops
- New gas setup
- ~$30k to $35k
- New electric setup
- ~$45k to $75k
$10k to $45k more pays for itself in about 2 to 9 years
Larger marae
5 heaters, 5 water heaters, 4 commercial six-burner cooktops
- New gas setup
- ~$50k to $65k
- New electric setup
- ~$80k to $140k
$15k to $90k more pays for itself in under 1 to under 5 years
Solar and batteries were not modelled here because commercial installs vary so much. Their savings come on top.
Quiet for weeks. Three days in fifth gear.
Power bills are built for steady demand. Marae are built for manaakitanga: quiet most weeks, then feeding and housing everyone who comes for a tangihanga or a big hui.
Most weeks: a fridge and a security light. The fixed charge still lands every day.
Tangihanga: three or four days in fifth gear. Full kitchen, full ablutions, hot water around the clock.
A single weekend of manaakitanga can set the tariff rate, and the bill, for months.
If it's sized for the quiet months, it fails exactly when it's needed most.
Illustrative shape drawn from the draft report's description, not measured data.
Marae already running on their own sun.
Three marae, three reasons to go solar: a busy kitchen, a seven-day community hub, and a lifeline at the end of one power line.
-
Akaroa, Te Waipounamu
Ōnuku Marae
- 20 kW solar on the wharekai roof
- Heat pumps
Lesson Use your solar during the day before exporting it. Self-consuming is the surest way to the best return.
-
Nelson, Te Tau Ihu
Whakatū Marae
- 14.96 kW solar (34 panels)
- 20.48 kWh battery
- Heat pump; electric water heating
Lesson For a marae that is busy every day, solar plus a battery works hard all year round.
-
Pouto Peninsula, Te Tai Tokerau
Waikāretu Marae
- 24 kW solar (48 panels)
- Battery with a 45 kVA backup generator
- Heat pump
Lesson For remote marae, solar is about more than money. It can turn the marae into a lifeline.
Energy from your own whenua.
Nearly every litre of petrol and diesel, and most of the LPG, that a marae burns comes from overseas. Power made on the marae roof is priced here, not by distant wars or overseas suppliers.
From the other side of the world
$55m a day on fuel that flows straight offshore (Rewiring Aotearoa, 2025)
$20b a year roughly, spent by New Zealand on imported fuel
New Zealand has refined none of its own fuel since the Marsden Point refinery closed in 2022. When a war or a blockade hits supply, a marae feels it within weeks in the price of a gas bottle.
From your own roof
Electric machines also waste less. A heat pump gives about three to four times the heat of a gas heater for the same energy, so cheaper power goes further.
What the report asks, and of whom.
The report, from Rewiring Aotearoa working with a Māori Steering Rōpū, asks for lower bills and safer communities, and for mana motuhake over the energy marae depend on.
Government
Ministers for Energy, Māori Development, Climate Change and Finance; Te Puni Kōkiri; EECA
Keep funding what already works. The Māori Climate Platform helped more than sixty marae install solar and resilience infrastructure, and it is ending. A dedicated marae fund would carry it on.
Fund the machines, not just the roof. Solar on the roof with gas still in the kitchen captures only a fraction of the benefit. Funding should cover the electric machines too.
Build on Aotearoa-made energy. A national energy strategy that treats marae as part of the country's energy infrastructure, not consumers at the end of the line.
Regulators
Electricity Authority; Commerce Commission
Pay a fair price for exported solar. A price that reflects the value of clean, local energy, not the token rate too often on offer today.
Let marae share their power. Multiple Trading Relationships and peer-to-peer trading would let a marae choose where its surplus goes, including the homes and papakāinga around it.
Decide for the people who live here. Make decisions in the long-term interest of the communities the energy system serves, marae included.
Emergency management and transport
National Emergency Management Agency and Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups; Minister of Transport; EECA
Recognise marae as resilience partners. Marae already act as resilience hubs. Policy should value them as partners in generation, distribution and resilience.
Make marae part of the charging network. Support marae to act as electric corridors, hosting EV chargers on land that is already parked and connected.
Set resilience standards for marae. New and rebuilt marae should meet resilience standards, including through electrification.
Iwi and rūnanga
Rūnanga, iwi leadership and marae committees, and iwi with the capacity to invest
Bring the next decision forward. Help marae choose electric each time a machine reaches the end of its life, and sooner where you can.
Help whānau follow. A revolving fund, a bulk buy across the papakāinga, or a dedicated pool for whānau electrification.
Own a stake in the energy system. Invest in renewable generation and in the lines networks that carry power to every marae.
Together, grants and finance are the difference between electrification reaching a fortunate few and reaching every marae that wants it.
Built to hold everyone.
A marae is where hui and wānanga happen, where milestones are celebrated, and where communities gather to grieve and farewell their dead. It is also where people turn when the river rises or the lines come down.
During Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, marae across Te Tairāwhiti and Te Matau-a-Māui opened their doors with shelter, kai and care. When floods struck Te Tai Tokerau in January 2026, and Cyclone Vaianu struck the Bay of Plenty in April, they did it again.
As states of emergency are declared across regions marae open their doors, mobilising faster than centralised agencies and without waiting to be asked.
Whakahiko Ngā Marae, draft report
Many marae are both the place their community shelters and a place in harm's way. With solar and a backup-capable battery, a marae can keep the wharekai cooking when the lines come down.
Guided by a Māori Steering Rōpū.
Whakahiko Ngā Marae: Electric Marae is being written by Rewiring Aotearoa with the Whakahiko Ngā Marae Steering Rōpū, who give strategic direction, kaupapa Māori guidance and accountability. It is built on the energy data, bills and experiences that marae communities shared. The report acknowledges the support of the National Iwi Chairs Forum and the Electrification Iwi Leaders Group.
By combining renewable energy with battery storage, marae can continue to provide warmth, shelter, kai, communications, and support during power outages and natural disasters, ensuring they remain places of safety and hope when they are needed most.
Steering Rōpū
- Hinerangi Pere
- Jaydan Salzke
- Juliet Tainui-Hernandez
- Kiritapu Allan
- Levi Walford
- Matiu Taurau
- Matt Newman
- Mel Wright
- Michael Jamieson
- Michael Rewi
- Richard Jones
- Will Edwards
This page draws on a draft of the report. The Steering Rōpū has not yet signed it off, and the modelled results are still being finished.