Canberra builders fear they will be left thousands of dollars out of pocket on domestic and commercial construction jobs following ActewAGL's introduction of new fees for electricity meters and increased charges for other services.
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There was no direct charge for the power meters, which are the "point of sale" for power consumed inside a residence or business, until July 1 this year.
New meters now cost $500, regardless of whether they are for a large unit block, apartments or freestanding homes, the ACT branch of the Master Builders Association said.
ActewAGL is under financial pressure with a shortfall of $26 million a year over the next five years in the wake of an efficiency review of its operations by the Australian Energy Regulator.
The MBA said the power meter fee alone would raise at least $2 million a year at the expense of builders and their clients.
Additional revenue would be generated from increases of up to 400 per cent in some existing fees and the creation of new ones MBA deputy executive director, Michael Hopkins, said.
In a strongly worded letter to ActewAGL chief executive, Michael Costello, dated September 24, 2015, the MBA's executive director, Kirk Coningham, said the construction industry had been "shocked" by the charges.
"Prior to the increase, there was no charge from Actew to haul cable and connect the [three phase] meter for greenfield sites. The new fee is $806.86," he wrote.
"Prior to the increase, fees for knockdown rebuild projects were $761. The new fees total $2892.
"The fee to move a point of attachment [single visit] cost $270 prior. Now the cost is $744."
Mr Coningham said ActewAGL had also introduced a $779.95 fee to upgrade a power supply from single phase to three phase.
Mr Hopkins said the lack of consultation about the changes, which the MBA said took effect with only two weeks notice, had put builders who had signed contracts before the new financial year in a difficult position.
"These significant additional costs could not be included building contracts," he said.
"It is extremely difficult [but not impossible] for builders to pass on these costs to their clients, leaving most to absorb these costs from already thin project margins."
Mr Hopkins said the MBA was still waiting on a response to its letter to Mr Costello.
Actew AGL's energy networks general manager, Stephen Devlin, said the speed of the changes had been beyond his organisation's control.
"After the AER released its ActewAGL Distribution Final Energy Determination on April 30 [this year] ActewAGL analysed the determination's impacts on its operations and [then] calculated their 2015-2016 annual tariffs and charges," he said.
"[We] submitted this to the AER on May 21. The AER approved the pricing proposal, including the connection charges, on June 12. This only gave a very small window of opportunity to undertake consumer engagement."
Mr Devlin said the changes had been foreshadowed at a meeting of the Energy Consumer Reference Council on May 14 but that the MBA had not been represented.
"They were in the process of changing representatives [at the time]," he said.
Mr Devlin said ActewAGL had responded to the MBA's letter on October 27.
"It took some time to prepare a response as the claims made by the MBA required some scrutiny," he said.
None of the money being raised through the new fee structure will be used to offset ActewAGL's cash shortage.
"Previously the cost of connection services were being subsidised through the electricity network tariff structure," Mr Devlin said.
"The user now pays the cost upfront to reflect the efficient cost of providing the connection service."
ActewAGL, which has also increased its fee for meters for rooftop solar power installations from $65 to $500, has rejected the "inefficient" tag with Mr Costello describing it as a "load of rubbish" in April.
