Published in the National Business Review of 3 August 2007

The new head of the government's energy efficiency agency has a new approach: he wants to make customers the focus of the agency's business.

Mike Underhill, a 59 year old electrical engineer, has been in the top job at the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority for three months, and he's talking about a new direction rather than a new structure.

"Engineers and economists have a great ability to make things complicated. I want to take the debate away from them and focus on the customers and changing their behaviour."

Mike Underhill was Chief Executive at lines company, WEL Energy in Hamilton, and was previously the top man at EnergyDirect in the Hutt Valley. He's long had an interest in energy efficiency.

In the past, Underhill says, attention was all on the supply side. The answer to increasing demand was always to build more power stations.

"New Zealanders used to wonder why we bothered with energy efficiency, and governments have been lukewarm at best. New Zealanders now want to do something about climate change, the environment and that includes energy efficiency and politicians also want action.

"We have to figure out how to change the behaviour of the people who use energy. Twenty years ago heat pumps seen as complex, expensive and unnecessary. Now they are a desirable and fashionable consumer item.

"When you get people saying 'I want one of them' you've won the battle for their hearts and minds."

"It's all about getting customers to take action. It's as simple and as complicated as that."

In the savage pecking order of government agencies, EECA has been criticised for being weak and soft and its cause was often not taken seriously, but Mr Underhill is looking ahead.

"I want EECA to be the heart tick of the energy sector, the trusted authority on things energy, and that does mean building credibility and reputation.

Instead of heading into a big internal restructure as new chief executives are often tempted to do, Mike Underhill says he wants to change the way EECA sells its products and services to the market.

"The structure of the organisation will follow from that."

"New Zealand spends $13 billion a year on energy, so even if we knocked 5% off that bill we are saving $650 million a year. That's worth making an effort for.

The traditional way of thinking about energy efficiency was to promote the payback period. Mike Underhill says that works for commercial customers but is less relevant in the residential sector.

"What does work is talking about the health benefits of a warm dry home. People can feel and experience that. Talk about lower power bills - that's tangible, and also save the world, that's got appeal now. Energy efficiency then is almost an afterthought after those buttons have been pushed.

The Home Insulation programme (which retrofits older houses in poorer areas) is likely to be a high priority.

"We have insulated about 30 000 low income households. Let's knock off the rest of that group. It'll take five or six years, but look at the end game. Hospital admissions will fall and the power bill for these people will be lower," he says.

"Success will be people realising that they can do something for themselves about energy efficiency in NZ, that it's relatively easy to do and that there is the technology to make it happen," he said.