Winter lovers going dark on extended daylight saving time

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

Nearly two weeks beyond the autumn equinox, New Zealanders are still 'benefiting' from lighter evenings, thanks to daylight saving time.

But is it really much of a benefit, given each day at this time of year is two to three minutes shorter than the previous one and it's dark not long after 7.30pm?

Mornings are also pretty dark around the country, with sunrise varying from 7.30am to 8.05am, depending on whether you live in the far north or the far south respectively.

The days are getting shorter, so why is daylight saving still persisting?

On Sunday at 2am, clocks go back an hour to New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), the latest date the change can be made, according to our daylight saving rules.

**READ MORE:

* Jury still out on daylight saving

* The highs and lows of dealing with daylight saving time

* Why daylight saving leaves you feeling 'jetlagged'**

Ross Byers, of Byers Jewellers in New Plymouth, has a big job on his hand each time the clocks go forward or back.

The extra hour is great if you're sleeping, but not so good if you're on nightshifts.

Clocks go forward again on Sunday, September 29.

Cows head to the milking shed at the same time each day, explaining why dairy famers are not fans of daylight saving time.

A Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) spokeswoman told Stuff three people had contacted the department in the past fortnight to complain that daylight saving time ended too late in the autumn.

The current 27-week daylight saving period had been in place since 2007. From 1990 until then it had been for a 24-week spell.

The rationale behind daylight saving was if NZST was applied all year, a significant portion of the longer sunlight hours would fall in the early morning, she said.

'As many people are asleep during the early morning hours, those hours of sunlight are seen as being wasted. So they are shifted to the evening by way of daylight saving time so they can be more useful.'

The shift to 27 weeks in the 2006-07 summer followed a public debate and a petition to Parliament signed by more than 42,000 people. In 2008, DIA commissioned an independent survey asking a random sample of adult New Zealanders if they agreed with daylight saving, she said.

'Ninety per cent approved of daylight saving while only six per cent disapproved.'

There were no plans to review the length of the daylight saving period, she said.

The scheme was first trialled in the 1974-75 summer and formally began on October 26, 1975 – to run from the last Sunday in October each year to the first Sunday in March of the following year.