Families who met a hardship criteria could apply for grants to cover material and installation costs of ceiling and floor insulation.
Rotorua's Kelly Albrecht said she and her family had noticed a big difference after having their home insulated.
"It's definitely a lot warmer and the insulation process was really fast. The minute the insulation went in I felt like the house held the heat in so much better," she said.
"My son has asthma so for us it was a no brainer to get it done and since we had the insulation installed he hasn't had an asthma attack."
The mother-of-four said she was able to get the insulation free and was "impressed" with the Government's healthy homes plan.
The scheme replaced the Warm up New Zealand, Heat Smart initiative, which ran from 2009 to 2013 and was also available to all home owners with houses pre-dating 2000.
Energy Efficient and Conservation Authority general manager of residential Robert Linterman said the tightening of building codes played a major role in both programmes.
"The Government identified the value around insulating homes because a lot of homes around New Zealand, pre-1978, weren't insulated under the building code," he said.
"The building code changed in 2000 to make a greater level of insulation, meaning that houses dating before 2000 did not have the required level of insulation."
The switch from the Heat Smart programme - which provided only for the "needy" - to the Healthy Homes plan, was due to greater economic benefit for the Government, he said.
Almost 270,000 New Zealand homes have been insulated, Mr Linterman said.
The authority hoped to have up to 300,000 homes insulated by the end of this year.
House warming
- The Healthy Homes initiative provides ceiling and underfloor insulation
- Grants go to homeowners with houses built pre-2000 who meet low income and high health concern criteria
- Landlords with tenants who also meet the criteria are eligible for grants.
- For more information, see: www.energywise.govt.nz
