The ACT Law Society has called for swift action to put an end to properties being sold without electricity meters.
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The legal body said the ACT Government should act now to make necessary amendments to the Certificate of Occupancy and Use requirements so buyers are assured apartments are fit for use and connected to electricity.
The strong criticism was sparked by news a second Gungahlin apartment building, the 90-unit Esque building, were asking buyers due to settle in July to pay $533 for meters before Monday for installation.
The Esque case is a re-run of the debacle buyers into the Ivy building faced before last year's election.
ACT Law Society president Sarah Avery said improved regulation would prevent buyers purchasing off the plan unit from undue confusion, distress and added expense.
"It is not acceptable that buyers of brand new units purchased off-the-plan discover very late in the process that electricity meters have not been installed," Ms Avery said.
"The Society believes that the Certificate should not be supplied unless and until there is an electricity meter in place for each unit."
Lawyers representing M&A Group Pty Ltd, the developers of Esque, said the request for an electricity meter fee was a cost-recovery, not a profit-making exercise.
The statement stressed the case was not a breach of any existing regulations.
It defends the late-stage installation of the meters by saying the imposition of the charge was not factored into the building's feasibility study based on known costs at the time.
"When our client purchased the site in August 2014 and commenced the project, Actew did not charge for the installation of the electricity meters," the lawyers statement read.
"The charge which, at the time was without sufficient notice to developers, has a direct bearing on feasibility of the project. Developers need to know statutory and government charges upfront with sufficient notice in order to plan their projects."
Actew AGL introduced the change in July 2015.
However the Esque development was released in April 2015, with some buyers signing contracts in December 2015.
The statement from developers behind Esque did not cover why clauses were not introduced to accommodate electricity meter installation earlier in the process.
It instead outlined that now developers were aware of the installation costs, there was an expectation this would be accounted for in initial cost estimates and pricing "so that purchasers will not need to settle properties without electricity meters."
