EV donation powers community connection

It’s been over a year since Waipā Networks sponsored an electric vehicle for Cambridge Community House. Since its arrival, the Cambridge Community House team says they couldn’t manage without the vehicle, which is essential for their home visit programme and daily work.

Cambridge Community House is a registered charity promoting personal, family, and
community wellbeing in Cambridge.

Thanks to the donated vehicle, the team has significantly improved its engagement with both perpetrators and victims of family violence. Under the Integrated Safety Response (Family Violence) contract, they are now achieving an engagement rate nearly four times higher than the national average of 30 to 40 per cent.

Whānau support team lead Jamie Kerr says having an extra vehicle allows their support workers to visit more local whānau and keep up with the increasing demand for their services.

“We can now take a more proactive approach having the vehicle,” says Kerr.

“The simple fact that we have been able to increase our visits and not rely on phone calls means those we support feel more comfortable being in their own environment and better understood, which leads to positive outcomes,” he says.

The vehicle is also used to run daily errands, attend meetings, deliver food, and for other community-based activities, travelling more than 9,000km over 624 journeys in 2024.

“Food deliveries have become more efficient, and the vehicle was used a lot for this purpose, especially leading up to Christmas.”

Fuel costs have also been reduced by over $2,000.

“For a charitable organisation like ours, that’s huge. Previously, having only one vehicle meant that, in some cases, the team had to use their personal vehicles throughout the day.”

Chief Executive of Waipā Networks Sean Horgan says sponsoring the vehicle for Cambridge Community House is just one way Waipā Networks can support their incredible work, in an efficient way.

“We’re 100% owned by our customers. Because of this, we need to ensure we remain community focused, delivering cost-effective and reliable energy services and solutions to meet the needs of our growing region,” he explains.

“It’s important to us that we sponsor initiatives that not only benefit our community but also promote sustainability, which is why we chose to provide an electric vehicle,” Horgan explains.

“Electric vehicles obviously produce fewer emissions than other cars, and this sponsorship alone has already helped cut down up to 1,500kg of carbon emissions, proving to be better for the environment and Cambridge Community House’s budget,” he says.

Waipā Networks is proud to be a part of the Waipā community and support events and organisations across our network. Find out more about our community sponsorship programme via the “Our Community” page.