There is a major shortfall of electrical apprentices entering the system

Master Electricians New Zealand says there is a shortfall of apprentices entering the system, as households are being encouraged to go electric.

Both Labour and National have announced plans for solar schemes with long-term, low interest loans to reduce the upfront costs of investing in solar.

Master Electricians chief executive Alexandra Vranyac-Wheeler told Nine to Noon about 3000 to 4000 apprentices would need to start each year to meet demand.

Vranyac-Wheeler said only about apprentices 1200 entered the system last year and too few were completing their training.

The core apprenticeship training system was reviewed every five years and they had only just begun reviewing it now, she said.

"So if you think about it apprentices are still being trained on the apprenticeship system that was in place five years ago, they haven't actually taken into effect EV hazardous, all the things that we know are going to increase in demand."

An apprenticeship started with an employer hiring a young person and it would cost the firm $58,000 in terms of salary, she said.

The $6000 that some government parties have offered employers to incentivise taking on an apprentice was not enough to persuade employers to do that in this economy, she said.

Employers also needed more support to train that young person, rather than all the support being invested in training organisations, she said.

Regional differences in terms of shortage

Vranyac-Wheeler said electrification was the way of the future.

"It will be one of the single biggest industries to grow between now and 2050 as we start to head towards decarbonisation."

There were regional variations in terms of how difficult it was to find qualified electrical workers, she said.

"We're finding that where there are good infrastructure projects happening and good pipelines, down south for example, you cannot find a qualified electrical worker. In other areas, in Auckland and Wellington the economy hasn't been as buoyant and so we're not finding that it's as difficult to find qualified workers."

Master Electricians had worked with Infometrics to determine that New Zealand was already short of 6000 electricians, she said.

She said there was a shortage of electrical workers across the board - from the residential area, to the primary sector.

There had been an increase in interest in households wanting to get solar power, she said.

"What we're seeing is that with the number of storms and the impact of that people are wanting to become more resilient and they're wanting to become in more control of how they use their power and how they can rely less on the grid."

Solar installation qualifications

Anyone wanting to install solar panels has to be a qualified electrician but since the beginning of the year they also require extra training.

"We have a new endorsement that's come into being really where a registered electrical worker who's held a licence for a number of years has to go an do some form of training or upskilling."

Master Electricians believed that in principle "absolute safety and quality" needed to be at the heart of how electricians practised, Vranyac-Wheeler said.

"So having a requirement to do some form of upskilling and apply for a licence, in principle we support."

But she said flexibility was needed in delivering training.

Master Electricians has set up a two-day course which costs about $900 and they then have to do three solar installations which would see able to be qualified to install solar, she said.

There was also a NZQA qualification with about 600 learning hours and which cost about $3500, but it was important this was not the only pathway to qualify, she said.

What needs to be done

Vranyac-Wheeler said there were a number of steps that must be taken to ensure trained electricians were available who could install things like rooftop solar, battery installation, charging station installations.

The red tape to upskill qualified electricians in solar, EV and renewables needed to be reduced and the industry was leading in that, she said.

"We've set up Trademaster, we're saying you don't need to go and do 600 hours, do a two-day course with us and we'll support you."

The regulatory system had not been updated since 2008 and needed updating, she said.

New 2018 regulations were coming in but it was now 2026, she said.

"We deal across four different government agencies for those regulations alone, so it's a complicated myriad, it's a mess."

How New Zealand and Australian standards were adopted also needed to be considered and how to invest in them for the future, she said.