The road to apartment electrification

Apartment residents are overcoming regulatory hurdles and taking practical steps to embrace renewable energy in their apartments and buildings, writes Jane Hone.

When we talk about energy-efficient homes, the conversation often centres on freestanding dwellings—leaving apartment living out of the picture. Many assume retrofitting or electrifying an apartment is too complex to be worth the effort. But that perception is shifting. Across Australia, apartment dwellers are taking practical steps to electrify their homes and buildings.

ZapCat is a certified social enterprise that helps Australian households transition to clean energy. They collaborate with local councils to provide personalised recommendations for households, connect residents with vetted installers, help obtain quotes and provide quote reviews if required. They also frequently help apartment residents navigate the process of electrification.

The main obstacle for apartment residents is getting approvals from their strata committee or owners’ corporation, but according to ZapCat co-founder Jimmy Li, the process is often easier than it seems—and not everything requires buy-in from neighbours.

“In strata living there’s a demarcation between what’s your property and what’s common property,” he says. “If you want to upgrade your gas cooktop and swap it out and get an induction cooktop, for example, that’s inside your property, so it’s yours, you can make that call. It might be counted as a minor renovation depending on your strata by-laws etcetera, so you might need to get approval. But generally speaking, you don’t have to convince someone else on the benefits of getting off gas.”

The same applies to transitioning from an inefficient heating system to a reverse-cycle airconditioning unit, or switching from gas to electric hot water.

Things become more complicated if your objective involves a common area of the property. For example, if you want to install solar panels on the roof, or switch a shared hot water system to electric, or put in EV charging stations.

Still, Li notes, garnering approval from your owners’ corporation doesn’t have to be a protracted process.
“These efficiency upgrades are classified as a sustainability infrastructure resolution if it goes to the owner’s corporation for voting. And the threshold for passing those is much lower,” explains Li. “Of the people voting, you only need 50 percent to say yes. Say you have a block of 12 units and then five people show up to your AGM and then three people vote yes, there you go, the whole block has just passed a sustainability infrastructure resolution.”

ZapCat operates in Sydney with hopes to expand across Australia. If ZapCat is not currently running a program in your LGA, they can talk to your local council about setting something up. Here are their tips for electrifying your apartment and building:

Do what you can
As well as installing solar, the Victorian Government’s Solar Victoria body suggests replacing the appliances that use the most gas—usually heating, followed by hot water systems and cooktops. They also recommend finding out if your energy provider has an app that tracks energy usage, which will help you prioritise which appliances need replacing first.

Li adds that good is better than perfect. When it comes to things like EV charging, apartment residents might find their mains power capacity is limited, which means they can only install an ordinary level one charger as opposed to a more powerful level two. “That’s usually more than adequate,” he says.

Take it to the strata committee
The strata committee represents the owners’ corporation and makes decisions for the building. Li suggests meeting with your fellow strata committee members and floating your ideas early, which might involve preparing a one-page opportunity assessment summarising the benefits.

“You can’t make things happen on your own,” he says. “You need a reasonably unified strata committee who is on board with your idea. So, my tip is: don’t go too far alone. Have a conversation with your fellow strata committee members early. If you’re not on the strata committee, befriend someone on the strata committee, or get on the strata committee, because that’s how decisions get made.”

Once you’ve convinced the committee your idea is worth investing in, you can begin to collect quotes from installers. Li says it’s important to make sure these installers are experienced with a building of your size and that they perform a site visit. After this, you’ll agree as a committee on a particular proposal and then take that to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) or Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

Meet people where they are
Li says people have a variety of reasons for wanting to electrify, and it’s important to consider your audience.

“A good place to start is always going to be cost, savings, return on investment. Because everyone cares about that, right, just to different extents,” he says. “In many cases the environmental angle might not be the most effective one.”

Residents also might not realise that energy efficiency upgrades can increase property value: Domain’s Sustainability in Property Report 2025 reveals that energy efficient homes are in demand, and that buyers are willing to pay on average 14.5 percent more for them. This piece of information may help sway those unsure about upgrading.

Check out government solar rebates in your area
Apartment owners can be put off the idea of installing solar because it’s often more expensive than doing so for freestanding homes. However, Li points out that there are some great government incentives available for installing solar panels—in New South Wales, for instance, there is a 50 percent rebate for the cost of adding solar panels to an apartment building.

“Suddenly the payback period of a strata solar installation is comparable to a freestanding house,” says Li.