Free upgrades for Tūrangi houses

Renee Parkes from Maru (left) and Tūrangi local Monica Duff are on a mission to warm up Tūrangi homes in time for winter.

Maru Energy Trust has appointed whānau advocate Monica Duff as its ‘community champion’ for Tūrangi.

She is now on a mission to help locals access help to sort out cold, damp houses in time for winter.

Homeowners may be eligible for free insulation worth between $3,500 - $4,000.

Maru Energy Trust is a not-for-profit, with the aim of making homes warmer, drier and healthier through free insulation. Where possible, it also installs heat pumps.

As a Whānau Ora tuwhanga navigator, Monica says she already knows the difference a warm home can make.

“It makes a huge difference – huge. I’ve just had some work done to my house so, yes, I know what it means to have a healthy home. And a cold home is not healthy. If kids get sick and live in a cold home, it’s hard to get well.”

She says a large number of homes in Tūrangi are cold and damp. Of those, many are rentals and do not meet healthy homes standards.

In her role assisting whānau, Monica has been working with Maru for five years.

“They are good to deal with. There is no mucking about, if they can help – they will. It’s that simple.”

Maru Energy Trust team leader Renee Parkes said appointing a local community champion was a strategy to raise the Maru profile in Tūrangi.

Insulation installers are ready to go and homeowners just need to make contact either directly or through Monica to see if they qualify.

Maru money comes from the government and a range of public and private organisations. King Country Trust and The Lines Company (TLC) both donate funds.

“Both TLC and King Country Trust know a warm home has a huge impact on bringing down power bills so they are very, very supportive of the work we do.”

Monica will help promote Maru directly to local families, marae, social agencies and more.

“We want Maru really well-known in the community because we can’t make warm homes happen unless people contact us, either directly or through someone like Monica,” Renee says.

“Since Maru began, we’ve insulated close to 1,100 homes and installed close to 550 heat-pumps in whare.

“We still have time to warm up homes for the coming winter, so we hope to be working in Tūrangi more often.”

To find out more about Maru, join the Maru Energy Trust Facebook page or call Jo or Renee on 0800 367 546.