Apartments and units
EV charging in Canberra apartments, townhouses and unit blocks.
Yes, an EV charger in a Canberra apartment is usually possible, ACT law has been changed to make it easier, and Capital Charge Co. assesses and installs charging in apartments, townhouses and unit-titled complexes across the ACT. Your owners corporation still decides, and what is practical depends on where your car space sits relative to your meter.
Below is what the ACT law says, what changes across the border in Queanbeyan and Googong, and the three ways a charger usually reaches a unit car space. This describes and quotes the law. It is not legal advice, and your owners corporation should confirm its own position. Checked on 18 September 2026.
Can I install a charger in my apartment car space?
In the ACT an EV charger is sustainability infrastructure. An owners corporation may approve installing it on common property if authorised by an ordinary resolution, a rule that blocks it is not valid, and where the structure is sustainability infrastructure the owners corporation permission “must not be unreasonably withheld”, with external appearance given as the example of permission unreasonably withheld.
The Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 contains no EV-specific provision. Chargers are caught instead by the definition of sustainability infrastructure: infrastructure or equipment that “improves the environmental sustainability” of the units or the unit, or “reduces the environmental impact”, and that “includes related utility service connections and equipment”.
The Regulation names them outright. In the list of things a maintenance plan must cover it includes “electric vehicle charging stations and associated infrastructure”, next to embedded networks and micro-grids, and solar panels and any other sustainability infrastructure.
The ACT Government summarises its own change this way: “This update ensures that owners corporations cannot unreasonably prevent or restrict the installation of sustainability infrastructure, such as EV chargers.”
Who has to approve it, and how does that decision get made in the ACT?
| Provision | What it says |
|---|---|
| Act, section 23 (1) | An owners corporation “may, if authorised by an ordinary resolution — (a) approve the installation of sustainability or utility infrastructure on the common property”, approve its financing, and grant an easement or other right over common property for its installation, operation or maintenance. |
| Act, Schedule 3, section 3.15 (1) | An ordinary resolution is one where “the number of votes cast in favour of the resolution is greater than the number of votes cast against it”, a simple majority of votes cast, not a special resolution. |
| Act, section 23 (2) | It may approve only “if satisfied, after considering the following, the long-term benefit of the proposed infrastructure is greater than the cost of installing and maintaining the infrastructure”: a site plan, a maintenance plan, any third-party financing terms, the direct and indirect costs, the long-term environmental sustainability benefits, and anything prescribed. |
| Act, section 108 (3) (f) | “An alternative rule is not valid to the extent that it results in the rules — … (f) prohibiting or restricting the installation, operation or maintenance of sustainability infrastructure in or on the common property or a unit”. |
| Regulation, Schedule 1, rule 1.4 (3) | “However, if the structure is sustainability infrastructure, the owners corporation’s permission must not be unreasonably withheld.” Safety, structural, financial and equity-of-access considerations are the examples of permission not unreasonably withheld. “External appearance of a unit or the units plan” is the example of permission unreasonably withheld. |
| Regulation, section 4A | A maintenance plan must include a plan for the maintenance and inspection of, among other things, “electric vehicle charging stations and associated infrastructure”. |
One correction worth making, because it is repeated widely: several guides say the ACT requires a special resolution to install this kind of infrastructure on common property. Section 23 says ordinary resolution. Read the Act rather than the summaries.
Source: Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 (ACT), Republication No 25, effective 26 June 2026; Unit Titles (Management) Regulation 2011 (ACT), Republication No 6, effective 26 November 2025. Checked 18 September 2026.
What if the car space is common property?
That is a different question from the charger, and it is the one that most often needs a special resolution. Where a unit owner is to have exclusive use of part of the common property, a car space, for three months or more, the Act deals with it through a special privilege rule under section 112A, made by special resolution.
There is a check on refusal. Section 128 (2) lets a grantee “apply to the ACAT for an order declaring that the owners corporation — (a) has unreasonably refused to make a special privilege rule under section 112A”. Most schemes never get near that, but knowing the path exists changes the tone of the conversation.
Source: Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 (ACT), sections 112A and 128, Republication No 25, effective 26 June 2026. Checked 18 September 2026.
Does the building need a supply upgrade, or just load management?
Usually load management, not an upgrade. The ACT Government puts it directly: “Load management ensures charging occurs only when there is spare electrical capacity – usually late at night, or the middle of the day. In most cases, there will be enough spare capacity in off-peak times to enable EV charging without a power supply upgrade.”
That is the single most useful sentence to put in front of a committee that has been told the building needs new mains. It is also consistent with what we see on site: the constraint is almost never the total energy an EV needs, it is the moment at which it would otherwise be drawn. Where a supply change genuinely is needed, our three-phase EV charging page explains what a supply upgrade involves and who approves it.
Evoenergy also offers owners corporations a direct line on network capacity, and says so on its own EV page: an owners corporation that wants “to understand network options for EV charging capacity can get in touch with our team”.
Who pays for the electricity I use?
You do, and the ACT has made that easier to arrange. The ACT Government states: “Where EV chargers are connected to the main switchboard, the owners corporation can now pass the electricity costs on to the individual.”
In practice we settle this before anything is installed, because it decides the wiring. A charger on your own meter bills itself. A charger on a common-property supply needs metering and a billing arrangement the owners corporation is comfortable administering, and that arrangement should be in the resolution rather than agreed afterwards.
Source: ACT Government, Climate Choices, “Making your strata building EV ready”, 2025; Evoenergy, “Electric vehicles”, no date shown. Checked 18 September 2026.
What are the three ways a charger reaches a car space?
| Path | How it is supplied and metered | Where it suits | What the owners corporation agrees to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charger on the owner’s own meter | A new circuit from the unit’s own board, so the resident’s own account pays for the energy | Townhouses and low-rise complexes where the car space is close to the unit. The ACT Government says “it may be possible for residents to connect directly to their own metered power board in their unit” | The cable route across common property, and the works being done “by a qualified electrician and in consultation with the executive committee” |
| Shared, load-managed circuit | A common-property supply feeding several chargers, with load management and per-user metering so each resident pays their own usage | Basement and podium car parks where running individual circuits back to each unit is impractical | Installation on common property, the load management policy, and how usage is metered and recovered |
| Building-wide EV Ready infrastructure | The ACT Government describes this as “all the infrastructure necessary for each unit resident to purchase and install their own charger in their allotted parking space”, typically “distribution boards, cabling, isolation points, a load management system and billing management” | Buildings that expect several residents to want charging over the next few years | A staged project and its financing, with the site plan and maintenance plan section 23 requires it to consider |
Expect the third path to involve some work. The ACT Government states that “most existing multi-unit buildings in the ACT are not EV Ready and will need electrical or structural upgrades to car park areas before EV chargers can be safely installed”. New buildings are a different story: from 15 January 2024 the National Construction Code requires certain building types to meet energy efficiency requirements that facilitate future on-site renewables and EV charging, and from 27 September 2024 the Territory Plan requires all new multi-unit developments to include EV Ready infrastructure to every unit car space.
Evoenergy puts the first step the same way we do: “If you’re an apartment resident and would like to install an EV charger, you will need to approach your Owner Corporation.”
Source: ACT Government, Climate Choices, “EV charging in multi-unit buildings”, no date shown; Evoenergy, “Electric vehicles”, no date shown. Checked 18 September 2026.
What does the owners corporation need from us before it can decide?
A written proposal addressed to what the committee actually has to resolve on. Section 23 (2) gives us the headings; we fill them in.
- A load assessment. What spare capacity the building supply really has, what a charger adds to it, and what load management does about it, so the committee can answer the supply question with a number rather than a worry.
- A metering and billing position. Which meter the charger sits behind and how the resident pays for their own energy.
- A cable route and site plan. Where the cable leaves the board, which parts of common property it crosses, how it is fixed and how it is protected, drawn so it can be attached to the resolution.
- Maintenance notes. What has to be inspected and when, in a form the scheme can fold into the maintenance plan the Regulation already requires for EV charging stations and associated infrastructure.
Most apartment proposals stall because a committee is asked to resolve on a verbal description and a price. Giving it something it can minute against each statutory heading is the difference between a decision and a deferral.
What is different in Queanbeyan, Jerrabomberra and Googong?
Units across the border sit under the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, not ACT unit titles law. Three provisions matter to an EV charger.
- Section 132B, financing and installation. Before approving a sustainability infrastructure resolution, the owners corporation must consider the cost “including any expected running and maintenance costs”, “who will own, install and maintain the sustainability infrastructure”, and “the extent to which the use of the sustainability infrastructure will be available to all or some of the lots”. The Act defines sustainability infrastructure to include changes to common property “to facilitate the use of sustainable forms of transport”, with the note: “For example, installing electric vehicle charging stations.”
- Section 139B, by-laws about appearance. “A by-law has no force or effect to the extent it would prevent the installation of sustainability infrastructure solely for the purpose of preserving the external appearance of a lot or the common property.” That section does not apply to common property that is heritage-listed or within a heritage conservation area. The ACT example in Schedule 1 states no equivalent heritage exception.
- Section 132A, utility supply agreements. An agreement for the supply of a utility with an owners corporation expires at the conclusion of the first annual general meeting if it was executed before that meeting, and otherwise three years after it commenced. The Act lists “electric vehicle charging” among its examples of a domestic service. Worth knowing if your scheme is being offered a long charging-as-a-service contract.
The network is different too. Across the NSW border the distributor is Essential Energy, not Evoenergy. Essential Energy states that a Level 2 charger “will require a switch to 3-phase power and must be done by a licensed electrical contractor”, and that “you will need to update your current connection offer with Essential Energy, and this is done by your electrician submitting a new connection application with the new load (amps) for the premises”. Its own Level 2 band is described as 8 kW and above, so we confirm the requirement for the specific charger and supply rather than assuming it. More on the border difference on our service areas page.
Source: Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), current version for 26 August 2026, sections 132A, 132B and 139B; Essential Energy, “Charging an Electric Vehicle”, no date shown. Checked 18 September 2026.
Is there a grant or loan for apartment charging?
In the ACT, the Sustainable Household Scheme can apply to a unit. Its guidelines treat “each individual unit titled property within a unit plan” as a distinct eligible property. Two conditions bite hardest in apartments: for unit titled multi-storey apartments “the UV of the property must be at or below $300,000 in any year from 2022”, and the participant must own the property or live with the person who owns it, so a renter cannot use it for a charger. The guidelines also note that “if a property is covered by a body corporate you may require approvals to install a product”.
We found no ACT grant for multi-unit EV charging as at 18 September 2026. In NSW, the grant that funded strata car parks has finished: the NSW Government lists its Electric vehicle ready buildings grant as “Status: Closed”, with applications opened 17 October 2023 and closed “15 December 2023, 9:00 am”, offering “up to $80,000” to registered residential strata schemes classified class 2 in the National Construction Code. If you are reading about that grant elsewhere, that is why you cannot find the form.
What the ACT loan does cover, and who is eligible, is on our Sustainable Household Scheme page.
Source: ACT Government, Sustainable Household Scheme guidelines for participants, July 2026; NSW Government, “Electric vehicle ready buildings grant”, no date shown. Checked 18 September 2026.
What do we assess in an apartment or townhouse?
- Where your meter is, and where your car space is. The distance between those two points, and whose property lies between them, decides most of the job.
- Spare capacity at the main switchboard, and whether load management lets a charger fit inside it rather than triggering a supply upgrade.
- Metering, so the energy lands on the right account from day one rather than being argued about later.
- The route and the fixings across common property, written up so the committee can see exactly what will be visible and where.
- The age of the building. Evoenergy warns that premises built before 1988 may have asbestos in the electrical meter board and the conduit supplying the service cable, and that work disturbing them is not carried out without suitable precautions. In older blocks that changes the method, not the outcome.
Apartments are not a niche here. On 2021 Census figures, flats and apartments are 47.6% of occupied private dwellings in South Canberra and 42.6% in North Canberra, then 35.2% in Molonglo Valley, against 19.4% across the ACT.
Send us your unit plan number, a photo of your meter board and a photo of the car space and we will tell you which of the three paths fits. Start with the quote form. If the charger will sit on your own circuit, our EV charger installation page covers the work itself and the cost guide explains what moves the number. If the building has solar, the solar charging page explains what can and cannot be diverted.
Source: Evoenergy, Service and Installation Rules V12 (2025), clause 1.9.1; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 Census QuickStats by SA3, the 2021 Census remains the current release. Checked 18 September 2026.
Apartment and strata charging questions
Does my owners corporation have to approve an EV charger?
Approval is still needed, but the ACT default rules say that where the structure is sustainability infrastructure the owners corporation permission must not be unreasonably withheld, and they give the external appearance of a unit or the units plan as an example of permission unreasonably withheld.
Does the ACT need a special resolution or an ordinary one?
For installing sustainability or utility infrastructure on common property, section 23 requires an ordinary resolution: more votes cast in favour than against. Granting exclusive use of a common property car space for three months or more is the step that needs a special resolution.
Can a renter install an EV charger?
Not on their own. The owner has to agree and the owners corporation still has to approve the work. The ACT loan scheme does not help either: for EV charging infrastructure a participant must own the property, or live with the person who owns it.
Is EV charging a fire risk in a car park?
The ACT Government states that road registered electric vehicles are less likely to be involved in a fire than internal combustion engine vehicles, and that there is no evidence charging increases the risk of an EV battery fire. It is the question every committee asks, so it is worth quoting.
What if the building has no spare electrical capacity?
Load management is usually the answer. The ACT Government says load management confines charging to times with spare capacity, and that in most cases there will be enough spare capacity in off-peak times to enable EV charging without a power supply upgrade.
Can I just run an extension lead to my car space?
No. The Australian Government advises plugging an EV charging cable directly into the power point rather than using extension cords or power boards, and a lead run across common property is not something an owners corporation should be asked to accept.
Is it different in Queanbeyan or Googong?
Yes. Those units sit under the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 rather than ACT unit titles law, and the electricity distributor is Essential Energy rather than Evoenergy, which adds a connection application step for a Level 2 charger.