When you think of pairings that just work, like peanut butter and jelly or wine and cheese, you can add one more to the list: master-metered multifamily communities and virtual power plants (VPPs).

The grid is facing a fundamental challenge: finding reliable, controllable load. Single-family homes offer potential, but participation rates are uneven, and program stickiness is low. Multifamily properties, with their constant churn of residents, have historically been an even tougher nut to crack.

But the solution to this has been in front of our faces all along: master metering.

While not a new concept, multifamily master metering fell out of favor in the early 1980s. Despite PURPA support for master metering as a solution, many states restricted it rather than improving submetering rules. The result wasn’t better efficiency, but rather the creation of a “split incentive”:

The split incentive occurs when landlords are asked to invest in energy upgrades but see little benefit when residents hold the utility account. In turn renters pay into programs but don’t directly receive the value as they cannot make changes to the property.

 As new technologies emerge as grid resources, this misalignment has become a barrier to scaling multifamily VPPs. “Solving for the split incentive between landlords and renters is no longer an energy efficiency issue, it’s a grid issue,” said TJ Harper, CEO of Nationwide Energy Partners.

The time has come for a master-metering comeback.

A master-metered building with submetering provides tenants with their individual usage and costs, but the landlord manages the master account. For VPP operators, this structure removes major barriers:

• Frictionless Enrollment: Instead of signing up unit by unit, the entire property comes online at once.
• Stable Participation: Resident turnover no longer disrupts the resource, whether tenants move in or out, the building stays enrolled.
• Reliable Load: With the property owner investing in devices and installation, VPPs aren’t dependent on residents’ willingness to stay connected.

VPPs aggregate distributed energy resources like thermostats, and water heaters, into a dispatchable system. However, VPPs need scale, stability, and confidence that resources will remain connected. Master metering provides exactly that.

The potential impact is massive. Data Center Dynamics projects 30 GW of peak demand growth from data centers in the coming years. At the same time, PJM’s territory alone includes more than 5 million multifamily units.

If these properties were master-metered and enrolled in VPPs, they could unlock 5 GW of controllable load, about 16% of the projected data center growth. And this could be achieved with far less investment than traditional transmission and distribution upgrades.

Master metering creates financial and operational alignment that non-master metered multifamily structures lack. Owners now have incentives to:

• Invest in smart devices and DERs across all units, providing residents with bill reducing technologies.
• Maintain connectivity and device functionality through dedicated networks without relying on resident Wi-Fi.
• Unlock the benefits of wholesale markets, demand response payments, and ESG performance similar to other commercial businesses.

For owners, that means lower operating costs and higher tenant satisfaction. For the grid, it means a dependable, large-scale resource that doesn’t vanish when a tenant’s lease ends.

The concept isn’t new, and some jurisdictions, such as New York City and Ohio, are already moving in this direction. But many states haven’t updated their master meter regulations since 1980, policies which were written before personal computers were even a thing, let alone functioning energy markets.

Such outdated rules make it difficult, and sometimes impossible, for landlords to implement master metering solutions. Revisiting those policies could unlock significant capacity for VPP growth at a time when every kilowatt of flexible demand matters.

We need solutions that are scalable, strengthen grid resilience, integrate renewables, and manage rising electrification loads. Master-metered multifamily communities offer solutions for all three.

It’s time for regulators, market operators and property owners to embrace this model as a core part of the VPP playbook. The benefits extend well beyond the grid: more efficient housing, empowered property owners, and residents who share in the value of a modernized energy system.

Virtual power plants need sticky, controllable load. Master-metered multifamily communities are the perfect source. Together, they’re not just compatible; they’re indispensable.