More than one-third of commercial sites lie empty at Victoria’s Mount Baw Baw village and a lack of power supply makes it unclear how many can be used or how much a new operator would pay to take over a resort unable to operate at its full potential.

Analysis by The Australian Financial Review shows as many as 17 of the 49 titled sites at the off-grid alpine village resort, 170 kilometres east of Melbourne, are vacant. Long-term business owners say potential commercial operations have long been held back by underinvestment in power.