Australia likes to point to rooftop solar as proof that its energy transition is working. On paper, the numbers are really impressive, but in practice? That has largely stopped at the boundary fence of detached homes. Apartment residents, particularly renters, remain mostly LOCKED OUT of the cost savings and energy security that solar delivers elsewhere in the country.
Victoria’s (VIC) decision to launch an inquiry into renewable energy access for apartment and multi-unit residents is an overdue admission that this gap is not accidental. Instead, it’s a result of policies designed for houses, market rules that struggle with shared ownership, and a long-standing reluctance to tackle complexity head-on. Instead of treating apartments as a niche edge case, the inquiry reframes them as a mainstream part of the energy system that policy has failed to serve.
What makes this inquiry significant is what it signals. VIC is testing whether apartment renewables can move beyond pilots and rebates, and into the realm of structural reform. If it succeeds, the implications will extend well beyond state borders.
For other jurisdictions grappling with rising apartment density and energy costs, this may be the closest thing yet to a national template for what comes next.
What this inquiry is actually examining
The inquiry launched by the Parliament of Victoria is asking a question governments have largely avoided until now: why does renewable energy policy work for houses but break down in apartment buildings?
The terms of reference point well beyond rooftop access alone. The inquiry is examining structural barriers such as shared ownership, outdated metering rules, body corporate decision-making, and the split incentives between owners and renters. It is also looking at whether existing market settings actively discourage shared systems, even when the technology already exists to support them.
Importantly, the inquiry is not limited to solar panels. It explicitly considers shared solar arrangements, community-scale batteries, virtual power plants (VPPs), and other models that treat apartment buildings as collective energy users instead of a bundle of disconnected dwellings.
By opening submissions to residents, industry and advocacy groups, the inquiry is also acknowledging something rarely said out loud in energy policy — lived experience inside apartment buildings often exposes failures that spreadsheets and pilot programs miss.
This part of the process will likely shape whether the inquiry produces practical reform or simply another set of well-meaning recommendations.
Why this matters beyond VIC
While the inquiry is state-based, the problem being examined is national. New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), Western Australia (WA), and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) all face the same pattern: rising apartment density, ageing state governance models, and energy policies still built around the assumption of a single household with a single roof.
In most states, apartment renewables have been treated as too hard to solve at scale. Efforts have tended to rely on small pilots, limited rebate programs, or voluntary uptake by particularly motivated owners’ corporations. The result is that millions of Australians living in multi-unit dwellings remain largely excluded from the rooftop solar story that policymakers often cite as a success.
If VIC can show a workable pathway that deals with governance, metering, renter access, and shared infrastructure in a coherent way, it creates something other states currently lack: a practical reference point. Policymakers elsewhere would not need to design solutions from scratch. They could adapt a tested approach rather than defend continued inaction.
That is why this inquiry is being watched beyond state borders. Apartment living is increasing across the country, and energy equity is becoming harder to ignore. A credible model in VIC would inevitably raise questions about why similar reforms are not being pursued elsewhere.
The policy ideas most likely to travel interstate
Many apartment buildings can physically support systems that serve multiple units. What stops them is complex metering rules and unclear regulations. If VIC creates a clearer pathway for shared infrastructure, other states can lift the same approach.
Clearer decision-making for owner’s corporations
Energy upgrades in apartment buildings often stall because voting rules, cost-sharing concerns, and governance processes are murky. Any reform that makes it easier for body corporates to approve renewable projects becomes a ready-made governance model for other jurisdictions.
Practical ways for renters to benefit
Tenants rarely see the savings from renewable systems installed on buildings they live in. If the inquiry produces mechanisms that allow renters to access those benefits indirectly, it addresses an equity issue present in every state.
None of these is unique to VIC. They are structural features of apartment living across the country, which makes the emerging solutions from this inquiry highly portable.
What success would actually look like when the inquiry reports back
When the report is handed down, success will not be about the number of recommendations. It will come down to whether apartment renewables stop being treated as a special case that needs special permission.
In practical terms, success would look like this:
- Apartment buildings having a clear, standard pathway to install shared solar or batteries without navigating a maze of exceptions
- Owners’ corporations having defined guidance on how to approve, fund, and manage renewable projects
- Renters having a recognised way to benefit from building-level systems, rather than being excluded by default
- Energy rules that treat multi-unit dwellings as normal participants in the energy market
If these appear in the final recommendations, VIC will have done more than an inquiry. It will have shown that apartment renewables can be governed in a predictable, scalable way.
That is the point where this stops being a Victorian story and starts becoming a reference point for the rest of the country.
The bigger shift this inquiry represents
Stepping back, this inquiry indicates something larger than apartment access alone. It suggests Australia’s energy transition is entering a new phase where the easy wins have already been taken.
Detached homes were the straightforward part. One roof, one meter, one decision-maker. Apartments expose the limits of policies built on that assumption. They force governments to confront shared ownership, shared infrastructure, and shared benefit in a way energy rules have historically avoided.
By choosing to examine this openly, VIC is acknowledging that the next stage of the transition is less about hardware and more about systems. The technology for shared solar, batteries, and VPPs already exists. What has been missing is a policy framework comfortable with complexity.
If the inquiry leads to meaningful reform, it will mark the point where apartments stop being treated as an exception to Australia’s solar story and start being treated as a central part of it.
Energy Matters has been in the solar industry since 2005 and has helped over 40,000 Australian households in their journey to energy independence.
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