6 Reefton
A telephone survey of domestic heating methods and fuels for Reefton was carried out by Digipoll in October 2004. This involved surveying 158 households within the 2001 census area unit (CAU) area of Reefton.
Survey details are shown in Table 6.1. The number of households for 2004 was estimated based on 2001 census data, extrapolated for 2004 based on Statistics New Zealand population projections. [New Zealand Statistics 2004, www.stats.govt.nz] The latter suggest a population decrease for the Buller Region of 14% by 2021. [High, medium and low population projections were estimated by Statistics New Zealand. The value used is the medium population projection.]
Table 6.1: Summary survey data, Reefton
6.1 Home heating methods and fuels
The Digipoll survey was used to collect information on home heating methods and fuels for Reefton. These data were collected for the purpose of evaluating the impact of variations in heating methods on air quality in Reefton, in particular the extent of change required to achieve the national environmental standard for PM10. This section presents the results of the home heating survey for Reefton largely in tabular form, in the expectation that these results will be of value in other assessments (e.g. emission inventory studies).
Tables 6.2 and 6.3 show domestic heating methods and fuels used for main living areas in Reefton houses, and seasonal variations in heating behaviour. Multi-fuel burners were used by 68% of households in Reefton for heating the main living area. Overall, 67% of households in Reefton used coal for domestic heating. Many households used more than one method of heating in their main living area.
Table 6.2: Domestic home heating methods and fuels, Reefton
Table 6.3 shows that households using multi-fuel burners heat their houses during both the summer and winter months, averaging seven days per week for most months of the year. The quantities of fuel used per day during the summer are approximately half the amount used during the winter for multi-fuel burners (Table 6.4).
Table 6.3: Monthly variations in heating behaviour and fuel use, Reefton
Table 6.4: Estimated daily fuel use, by season, Reefton
6.2 Insulation, cost of heating, income, and house age and size
In addition to collecting data for the purpose of evaluating the impact of variations in heating methods on air quality, information was collected on a number of variables relevant to the Ministry for the Environment's Warm Homes Project. Relevant data for Reefton are presented in this section.
Figure 6.1 shows that around 6% of households using gas in Reefton during 2004 used gas systems that were properly flued. This is significantly less than the national average of 28%.
The amount spent on heating for a winter month, by heating method, is shown in Table 6.5. In Reefton, households heating using solid fuel burning methods spent less per month on average (around $60) than those using electricity, but more than those using gas ($35).
Figure 6.2 shows the average heating costs, home ownership, age of dwelling and number of bedrooms for households in Reefton.
One factor influencing the amount spent on different heating methods is the ability of households using solid fuel burners to obtain wood free of charge. Figure 6.3 shows that around a quarter of the wood used on wood burners in Reefton is self-collected, compared with over half for open fires and multi-fuel burners.
Figure 6.1: Distribution of flued versus unflued gas heating and age of wood burner, Reefton
Text description of figure
There are two pie graphs. The first graph shows the distribution of flued and unflued gas heaters. Unflued gas makes up 94% of all gas heating and Flued gas makes up 6%.
The second graph is divided by the age of wood burners. Post-1999 wood burners make up 21%, 1994-99 wood burners make up 29% and the remaining 50% of wood burner are Pre-1994.
Table 6.5: Average monthly heating costs (winter), Reefton
Figure 6.2: Domestic heating method, by average monthly heating expenditure, house ownership, house age and number of bedrooms, Reefton
Average heating cost per month (winter)
House ownership
Age of dwelling
Number of bedrooms
Text description of figure
There are four bar graphs.
The first graph sets out the average heating cost per month in winter. Cost per month by heating methods are: electric $137, gas $35, open fire $67, wood burner $60 and Multi-fuel $64.
The second graph sets out heating methods divided by home tenure. For households living in rentals 19 use electric, 16 use gas, 11 use open fire, 16 use wood burners, 0 use pellet burners, 66 use multi-fuel and 0 use oil. For households living in their on house 80 use electricity, 40 use gas, 35 use open fires, 64 use wood burners, 0 use pellet burners, 215 use multi-fuel and 5 use oil.
The third graph sets out the age of a dwelling using a particular method of heating.
- Heating methods for houses under 10 years old are 14% electric, 19% gas, 13% wood burners, 13% multi fuel and 12% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 11 and 20 years old are 24% electric, 14% gas, 13% wood burners, 12% multi fuel and 6% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 21 and 40 years old are 11% electric, 5% gas, 27% wood burners, 15% multi fuel and 6% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses over 41years old are 43% electric, 48% gas, 40% wood burners, 53% multi fuel and 76% open fires.
The fourth graph sets out particular heating methods by the number of bedrooms.
- Heating methods for houses with one bedroom are 3% electricity, 0% gas, 7% wood burner, 5% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with two bedrooms are 19% electricity, 0% gas, 17% wood burner, 10% multi fuel and 12% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with three bedrooms are 54% electricity, 81% gas, 63% wood burner, 60% multi fuel and 47% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with four bedrooms are 22% electricity, 14% gas, 3% wood burner, 22% multi fuel and 35% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with five bedrooms are 0% electricity, 5% gas, 3% wood burner, 1% multi fuel and 6% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with six bedrooms are 0% electricity, 0% gas, 0% wood burner, 1% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
Figure 6.3: Proportions of fuel obtained free of charge versus bought, Reefton
Text description of figure
This bar graph shows the amount of wood either bought or collected free of charge by three different types of heating. Those using open fires bought 40% of their fuel, those using wood burners bought 68% of their fuel and those using multi-fuel burners bought 45% of their fuel.
Table 6.6: Type of electric heating, Reefton
The main type of electric heating used by households in their main living area in Reefton was portable oil column heaters and fan heaters, which were used by 32% and 19% of households, respectively (Table 6.6). Around 16% of households using electricity used heat pumps in their main living area.
Detailed data on home heating method, by house ownership, are shown in Table 6.7.
Table 6.7: Home heating method, by house ownership, Reefton
Household insulation types and heating methods are shown in Tables 6.8 and 6.9. Table 6.10 shows home heating method, by household income. The overall non-response rate was around 21%. This limits the use of these data, because there may be an income bias in the non-respondents.
Table 6.8: House insulation summary statistics, Reefton
Table 6.9: Degree of house insulation, by heating method, Reefton
Table 6.10: Home heating method, by household income, Reefton
Tables 6.11 and 6.12 show the relationship between heating methods and the age of the dwelling and number of bedrooms, respectively.
