A gaping hole left in the roof of a Deakin couple's house by ActewAGL has ruined their sleep for months, providing access to noisy and destructive possums.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
David and Angela Merz were overseas in October when the reconnection of phone wires after the replacement of a power pole led to the timber fascia boarding on their roof being pulled apart from the building's peak.
A workman assured a housekeeper that the October damage would be fixed, but an extended and unexplained delay meant the couple had unwelcome visitors on their return.
"You bang on the wall and shout and you hear them running through the walls and across the ceiling," Mr Merz said.
"You can hear them chewing at things."
On the worst nights the couple were woken three or four times, Mrs Merz said.
Possum faeces and urine had been found in the internal roof as well as a dislodged brick.
Mr Merz, a retired public servant with the Department of Immigration, said the lack of response to at least seven approaches to Actew AGL was incredibly frustrating.
A workman arrived on the site on March 25 and took photos, but nothing further had been done until questions from the Sunday Canberra Times were put to the ACT's electricity network provider last week.
ActewAGL corporate affairs director Paul Walshe said the company had got it wrong and would investigate why the obvious damage went unrepaired for so long.
"I'd like to acknowledge the inconvenience to [the] Merzs, and we'd like to apologise for that," he said.
"We were completely at fault. We're reviewing deficiencies in procedures so this sort of thing doesn't happen in the future."
Mr Walshe said the facia in question had a Telstra and TransACT connection and was believed to have been pulled away from the roof when the wires were restrung and tightened.
Initial complaints last year were sent to a person who was away on maternity leave, he said.
On Thursday an Actew AGL contractor and a roofing expert fixed the fascia and sealed the hole. Mr Merz said ACT Possum Removal attended the property and recommended pushing back some tiles in the early evening to allow a voluntary departure by the possums, then closing them later, but the method has yet to succeed.
Mr Merz said he would not be seeking compensation.
"We just want it fixed," he said.
