ACTEW goes to DRS

Always watching Chop

Welcome back Mark S,

We missed you while you were busy working out your salary problems.

Chop

Heading off to Actew’s price submission will not help you nor the ICRC price determination although both concurred on the recovery of the cost of Cotter Dam. I am sure the ICRC will release our reuest for review in time. What happens next is the relevant Minister sets up an Industry Panel to consider the review. That panel may uphold the Price Determination or substitute it with another determination. While the panel considers the issue the current price determination continues. I would not be surprised if it took up to 12 months for the review to be concluded.

ACTEWs application for review is about process and regulatory certainty issues more than price outcomes. It is less than ten pages rather than the submission blockbusters.

+1 for wildturkeycanoe

maybe if there weren’t 5 suits and clip boards watching one man work making sure everything he is doing is in compliance of his SWIMS we wouldn’t need to increase the water charges.

From what I see in the report, after following link after serch to find a document that explains it all, ACTEW have spent too much building the Cotter Dam higher and now want us to pay for their blunder. It seems to me they want us to pay 16% more for annual usage in 2013/14 and around 10% more for consumption. If however there is a drought, this will increase to 20% for Stage 2 and 75% for stage 4 drought restrictions. Then they say an average customer would see an increase of $108/year or just 6%???? Doesn’t add up in my head.
Based on our own bill for the last quarter, Supply increase adds $16/ year whilst an average quarter is $16 more expensive. This adds up to $80/year extra on our water bill or about 12%, a far cry from their 6%.
I bet if I got the person who wrote their submission to explain it, the figures would probably be making me money though. I can’t believe they used everything from the GFC, American and UK regulatory costs to estimating completion costs of the Cotter Dam upgrade in the future [crystal ball method]. Perhaps they should have also considered anticipating unforeseen flooding and acts of God in their methodology.
In the end, the whole idea of increased charges to pay for their stuff ups and overspending is a contradiction, when they try to tell us to minimise water usage but then charge us more for it because their profits are dwindling due to lack of sales.
If you think anything in my post was confusing or you want some clarity from the source, try reading this 241 page document http://www.icrc.act.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Submission_24_15_April_2013_ACTEW_Corporation.pdf