Canberra Granny Flat Builders (CGFB), a construction company in Belconnen, is calling on the ACT Government to take control of Icon Water, the ACT’s water and sewerage public utility, or to set up an independent tribunal to review their decisions.

Icon Water is an unlisted public company wholly owned by the ACT Government. Its voting shareholders are Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Shane Rattenbury, Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction. Icon Water owns, manages, and operates all water and sewerage services for the ACT and the bulk of Queanbeyan. It is also a major shareholder in ActewAGL Retail and Evoenergy.

CGFB argues, however, that Icon Water is undermining the government’s affordable housing program and causing delays and costs for owners of blocks.

“Despite the ACT and Federal government’s push to develop more affordable housing, the local builders and Canberra homeowners remain hostage to unreasonable bureaucratic requirements,” Frank Walmsley, director of CGFB, said.

CGFB claims that Icon Water rejected a minor work application for a property in Gordon due to the location of a water meter and a driveway from a block approved in 1992; although the proposed work (in the backyard) did not interfere with the infrastructure, Icon Water insisted on relocating the water meter, costing the owner more than $10,000, CGBF stated.

Icon Water explained that CGFB had misunderstood their advice.

“The simple reality is that there are people out there that want to build more adaptable and affordable housing, and legalised monopolies like Icon are actively imposing unnecessary costs,” Mr Walmsley said.

“Most homeowners in Canberra would be shocked to know that a simple development request in their backyard could trigger an unappealable decision imposed by Icon Water to require them to move a water meter that has worked perfectly for a third of century.

“The question that remains unanswered is why a homeowner would need to move a water meter at the cost of $10,000 where the proposed building works are in the backyard and do not go anywhere near the perfectly operating infrastructure.

“It’s bureaucracy gone mad, undermining attempts to solve the housing crisis.”

A spokesman for Icon Water said the utility company did not reject CGFB’s building application for the property in Gordon because of the location of the water meter and the driveway. 

“More information has now been provided by the developer, allowing for the reasons for the initial failure to comply decision to be resolved,” the spokesman said.  

“Icon Water acknowledges that there was a misunderstanding of our advice regarding the location of the water meter not meeting current standards. This misunderstanding led to it being taken as a requirement to relocate the meter. We are reviewing the wording of this advice for future applications. 

“The intention of the advice was to ensure that in providing any acceptance of the updated design for the property, the developer understood this did not include implied approval that the location of the existing meter was in line with the current standard.”

Where either a previously approved water meter or the area around the water meter are not changed, relocating the existing water meter to bring it to the current standard is not required. 

“Icon Water has a dual role in enabling development and growth in the ACT and balancing this with ensuring the management of our network and assets are safe, efficient and effective. Water meters located in driveways can create risks of undetected leaks occurring under the driveway for customers. This can lead to high bills. They are also more costly and challenging to maintain, which is ultimately borne by the Canberra community. Meters in driveways are being phased out, but not as a requirement on customers and developers unless development or other work is occurring on or around the meter.”

“As always, we encourage developers to contact us directly if they have any concerns. A conversation with the developer has now occurred, and the requirements for this particular development scenario have been clarified.”

CGFB calls for government takeover

“The inflexibility of the entities in housing development actively undermines the ACT Government’s affordable housing initiative, and causes unnecessary delays and costs for the owners of existing blocks,” Mr Walmsley said.

“Requiring homeowners to modify existing infrastructure that is outside of the scope of development increases the workload of existing entity referral systems, which are already overloaded with high volumes of requests.

“When Icon Water choses to focus on jumping through bureaucratic hoops for infrastructure that is not being changed, they increase the time for the owner to develop their property and decrease the time to identify utility issues that will affect the owner in the long term.”

CGFB urged the government to take control of Icon Water, “and demand that work to efficiently and effectively manage building approvals is in place to encourage more affordable and practical housing development.

“If the government has the inability to direct the Icon Water monopoly to have a consumer and community focus, then the government should legislate to create an independent tribunal that can oversee and review these imposed and impactful decisions.”

A spokesperson said that the ACT Government had no plans to alter the corporate structure of Icon Water.

“Icon Water is an unlisted public company owned by the ACT Government. As a Territory-owned corporation, they are separated from the direct functions of government, and governed by an independent board of directors who exercise a governance, strategic and oversight role.

“The Government meets regularly with Icon Water through the Quarterly Voting Shareholder meetings to discuss current and emerging issues relating to Icon Water and its subsidiary energy interests.”

A spokesman for the utility said: “Icon Water always welcomes the opportunity to ensure understanding, potentially explore alternatives and receive feedback. There are also other avenues for review of our decisions both internal and external to Icon Water.”