Page 1710 - Week 06 - Thursday, 20 May 1993
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Mr Connolly - the answer to the Members question is as follows:
(1) Following the amalgamation of the electricity and water functions, it was necessary to put in place a management structure appropriate to the needs of the new Authority. This process has occurred over a period of time so that there has been an increase in SES numbers in ACTEW since 1988.
Increases in SES costs in ACTEW, since 1988, have arisen principally from two sources:
a) the upgrading of former non-SES positions, so that the marginal cost increase to the Authority in these cases was considerably less than an examination of the SES figures alone might imply; and
b) some movement of salary which occurred as a result of the Australian Industrial Relations Commissions determination of salary claims under the Structural Efficiency Principle. This saw the replacement of the six level (SES) classification structure with three salary bands.
(2) No, the remuneration packages offered to SES officers at ACTEW are the same as those set by the Public Service Commission and paid to SES officers within the Australian Public Service and the ACT Government Service.
(3) ACTEWs electricity charges have been maintained at the 1992/93 level for 1993/94
and have not increased. Water has been increased by 4% as a move towards covering
the costs of water treatment and delivery. ACTEWs water business has lost
$11 million in the last three years.
(4) The cost of bulk electricity to the ACT has not enjoyed the full flow-on of price reductions available in NSW. This is due to a number of elements:
a) the ACT gets approximately 30% of its power at fixed rates set by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority;
b) the average power cost every year increases because a greater proportion of power
is taken from the more expensive NSW sources; and
c) the cost of delivering electricity to the ACT.
(5) ACTEW has maintained its prices for 1993/94 without any increase and given that our
domestic rates are already so low, this is a very fair outcome for the people of Canberra.
(6) Assuming that Mr Westende is referring to the enterprise agreement negotiated between ACTEW and the EPU, that agreement contains a number of realisable cost offsets. In determining its cost and associated pricing structure, the Authority takes into account all such efficiency measures.
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