At the 2021 Census, nearly four in five occupied homes in South Yarra were flats or apartments, and in the suburb of Melbourne, which takes in the CBD and the St Kilda Road area, the figure was 99.2 per cent. That is where apartment EV charging gets hard: the car sits in a shared basement, the switchboard is owned by everyone, and nothing gets wired without the owners corporation. Our A-grade electricians (REC 35838) assess buildings, design shared charging and install it, and we help residents put a workable proposal to their committee.
Stonnington Council’s EV charging plan lists South Yarra and Windsor, dense with multi-dwelling developments on small parcels, among the places where residents are likely to find charging on their own property difficult.
Why apartment EV charging runs through the owners corporation
Charging in a strata building often means work on, or use of, common property: the main switchboard, risers, car park ceilings and walls. The plan of subdivision shows what is common property and what belongs to each lot.
Section 52 of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 says an owners corporation needs a special resolution before it significantly alters the use or look of common property, unless the maintenance plan allows the work or it is approved under section 53. The Act has no EV-specific provisions, and section 138B, which limits rules that unreasonably ban “sustainability items” such as solar panels on a lot’s exterior, does not name EV chargers. A review of the Act took submissions in 2025; no EV amendments had been made as at October 2026.
The Victorian Government’s EV-ready guide for owners corporations (DEECA, August 2026) walks committees through the decision: assessing the building’s electrical capacity, choosing a charging pathway, sharing costs fairly and getting the right level of resolution.
One-off circuits or a shared EV backbone
There are two ways to get power to a car space. One is an individual circuit from an apartment’s own supply. One of the guide’s case studies is a nine-unit Toorak building where one owner funded a dedicated Level 1 circuit from their own apartment switchboard, which met their needs without committing the owners corporation to wider works.
The other is an EV backbone: common-property switchboard capacity, EV distribution boards, cable tray, risers, communications and load management that let any space connect over time. Each owner’s charger and final cable sit outside it.
| Issue | Individual circuit | Shared EV backbone |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | The owner who benefits | Backbone by lot liability; each user pays for their charger and final cable |
| Capacity | First in, best served | Shared by load management |
| Cable routes | One per owner | Planned once, on common tray |
| Suits | Small buildings with one early request | Buildings expecting several EVs |
Our view: once a building has more than a handful of car spaces, a string of one-off circuits is usually a false economy. Each owner runs a separate cable through the basement and the spare capacity is gone before anyone planned for it. A circuit from an apartment’s own meter usually has to cross common property to reach the car space, so it needs an electrical assessment as well as the committee’s approval.
Resolutions, levies and who pays
The type of vote depends on what the works do, not on how new the equipment is.
- Ordinary resolution. The guide says most works that modify existing common-property electrical infrastructure, including an EV backbone, can be approved by ordinary resolution and added to the maintenance plan.
- Special resolution. Needed where the works would significantly alter common property’s use or appearance, such as exclusive use of part of it or charging in visitor spaces for individual owners, or where works need a planning or building permit.
- Funding. Also needed where a special levy exceeds twice the annual fees, borrowing exceeds the annual fees, or money is paid from the maintenance fund for anything outside the approved maintenance plan.
A special resolution needs 75 per cent of total lot entitlements when decided by ballot or poll, otherwise 75 per cent of total votes. A result of at least 50 per cent for and no more than 25 per cent against stands as an interim special resolution, confirmed 29 days later unless owners with more than a quarter of the votes petition against it. The counting rules are set out in the voting and ballot guidelines from Consumer Affairs Victoria.
Costs then follow the benefit principle in section 53: the backbone is typically shared by lot liability, while each user funds their own charger, final cabling and electricity.
Load management sized to the building
The technical work starts with a capacity assessment, and that is where we begin: main switchboard, incoming supply, cable sizes and demand data, then a plain answer on what can connect now. If the main switchboard is the limit, read about switchboard upgrades for EV chargers before the committee meets.
The guide’s indicative tiers are a sensible starting point:
- more than 100 lots: managed Level 2 charging with dynamic load management
- 51 to 100 lots: the same, with managed Level 1 as an interim option where individual requests come before wider demand
- 3 to 50 lots: managed Level 1, or Level 2 where faster charging is wanted and technically feasible
In government guidance, Level 1 is charging from a regular power point at 1.4 to 3.7 kW, and Level 2 a dedicated charging unit on its own circuit at 7 to 22 kW. For managed Level 2 we choose chargers that speak OCPP, the open charging protocol, so the building isn’t tied to one maker’s load management software. Newer buildings may be partly ready already: J9D4 of the National Construction Code asks new apartment car parks for dedicated EV distribution boards whose circuits can each provide a minimum of 12 kWh overnight, from 11 pm to 7 am.
Metering and billing residents
A user-pays system stops owners without an EV subsidising those with one, and the guide puts charging electricity on the individual user. Section 12 gives an owners corporation power, by special resolution, to supply a service to owners or occupiers and recover its cost from the people using it.
Selling charging electricity to residents doesn’t turn the owners corporation into an energy retailer: the Essential Services Commission treats the sale of electricity for EV charging as a deemed exemption under its General Exemption Order 2022, so no licence is needed. Sellers covered by it may still have to give the Commission information each year by 31 March.
Use can be measured by the charger’s own meter, by sub-meters in the EV distribution board, or by smart outlets. We match the metering to the billing method the committee picks, so the figures reconcile with the building’s electricity account.
Basement cable routes, car stackers and fire safety
Most of the work happens overhead: a new EV distribution board, cable tray along the car park ceiling, and final circuits dropped to each space as owners connect. We confirm what is inside a slab before fixing to it, because post-tensioned slabs and buried services limit where fixings can go, and we seal any hole through a fire-rated wall or slab so the fire separation stays intact.
Spaces with no wall or pillar nearby can be served from a freestanding column set between bays. Car stackers are harder to serve, so shared charging in a common area is often more practical.
Fire Rescue Victoria’s guideline list had no EV-charging guideline as at October 2026. The state guide cites EV FireSafe research that EVs are less likely to be involved in a fire than petrol or diesel vehicles, and says compliant equipment installed by a registered electrical contractor does not automatically increase the risk of a battery fire. Tell your insurance broker before work starts, and keep chargers clear of fire stairs, exits and safety equipment.
Where the state guide and the City of Melbourne fit
We think the EV-ready guide is the most useful single document a Victorian committee can read on this. Its core idea is an EV strategy that “does not assume that a particular technical solution, or immediate installation, is appropriate”, weighing four pathways: a full backbone, a staged rollout where demand is proven, an interim arrangement for one owner, or deferral. It also covers how to design a resident survey that gives the committee useful answers.
The City of Melbourne and the Victorian Government jointly run the Electrifying Apartment Buildings Program, offering electrification feasibility studies, NABERS energy ratings and energy opportunity assessments for up to 10 medium and high-rise strata buildings between September 2026 and March 2027. Expressions of interest closed on 26 July 2026 and the page doesn’t mention EV charging, so treat it as a whole-building energy study. Buildings in the city itself are covered under EV charger installation in the Melbourne CBD.
What to take to your committee
If you are the resident with the EV, a short written proposal gets further than a question at the AGM. Cover:
- your car and weekly driving
- where your car space is, and what the plan of subdivision shows about it
- a request that the committee adopt an EV strategy, not just rule on your case
- a capacity assessment by a registered electrical contractor as the first step
- a cost split based on the benefit principle
- how your use will be measured and billed
- whether an interim approval means moving to a shared system later
If your townhouse has its own garage and meter, the work may never touch common property, in which case home EV charger installation applies. South Yarra owners can find suburb detail under EV charger installation in South Yarra.
Frequently asked questions from owners and committees
Is our owners corporation allowed to say no to a charger?
Approval isn’t automatic. The Act has no EV-specific right to charge and works on common property need the right resolution, although the Act requires an owners corporation to act honestly and in good faith and to exercise due care and diligence.
Is a normal power point in my car space enough?
For lower mileage it can be: government guidance says power-point charging may suit vehicles travelling less than 100 km a day. It still needs approval, a suitable circuit and a way to measure and bill your use.
Who pays for the backbone if I am the first EV owner?
A backbone that serves the whole building is typically funded by all owners according to lot liability, while you pay for your own charger, final cabling and electricity.
Does the building need a planning or building permit?
It depends on the works. If they need a planning or building permit, the Owners Corporations Act treats them as upgrading works, which need a special resolution unless the maintenance plan already provides for them. We flag likely permit questions during the capacity assessment so the committee can check them with a building surveyor or the council before it votes.
Whether you sit on the committee or own the building’s first EV, we can start with a capacity assessment. Ask us for a building assessment or call 1300 003 853 (Monday to Saturday, 7am until 7pm). Once chargers are in, EV charger repairs and servicing from the same team keeps them running.