Like many Canberrans I have an intimate relationship with ActewAGL. This ubiquitous multi-utility provides my household with water, electricity, gas, telephone, internet and TV, and, to cap it all, if that is the right phrase, ActewAGL also removes our wastewater and sewage.
I would not trust any old company to perform all these functions. But ActewAGL is a home-grown joint venture, partly owned by the ACT Government and partly by the private sector. It is probably the only public-private partnership anywhere that delivers such a range of services.
For those worried about market power, there are a number of factors keeping the joint venture honest. There is competition. I could choose an alternative provider for many of the services I purchase from ActewAGL. Where ActewAGL enjoys a monopoly, as it does in the provision of water and wastewater services, its prices are regulated by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission. Electricity prices are partly regulated nationally, and partly locally.
All things considered, I thought I ''knew'' ActewAGL. And then along came the power station. Out of the blue, it seemed, our multi-utility was joining a consortium that would build and operate giant fridges to house computer data, while powering the lot with a towering new gas-fired power station.
Few would object to the power station in itself, and there are a range of good reasons commercial as well as those relating to security and consistency of energy supply that make the venture important.
From Actew Corporation's perspective, the power station and data centre model was a clever way of providing the ACT with additional energy, without requiring consumers to pay for it. The deal presumably also made sense to the joint venture's other partners, Singapore Power and AGL.
Unfortunately for ActewAGL, the first most people heard of this project was when a development application was lodged for a site only a few hundred metres from homes in Macarthur. Since then, following an understandable outcry from residents, the Tuggeranong development has been dramatically scaled down, and ActewAGL has announced plans to acquire a site for an even bigger power station in Williamsdale.
Whatever the outcome, the saga of the magically appearing, then semi-disappearing and now reappearing power station has been a PR minefield for the joint venture, with ramifications for the beleaguered Stanhope Government as well.
With energy investment heavily affected by whatever emissions trading scheme is adopted, the business modelling for the power station project must be clouded by considerable uncertainty. But now is probably a good time for Canberrans to consider the role that ActewAGL should play in the future development of the territory.
Readers will recall that the Carnell government's drive to privatise electricity and water in the ACT resulted in a compromise solution. The water assets remained wholly publicly-owned. The electricity assets (essentially the distribution network plus the retailing business) were considered too ''thin'' to give Actew Corporation sufficient commercial mass in the national electricity market that was then emerging.
The solution (after a failed merger attempt with Great Southern Energy) was to create a joint venture with AGL, encompassing AGL's ACT gas network, Actew's electricity network and Actew's outsourced water management functions. Despite its complexity, the resulting business has proved a surprising success.
The joint venture employs 1500 people and makes healthy profits for its respective owners AGL, Singapore Power and Actew Corporation. As Actew Corporation is wholly owned by the ACT Government the regular dividends it, in turn, is able to provide are a significant source of revenue.
But a public-private hybrid of this type also carries some risks. In 2006, ActewAGL's private sector partner, AGL, underwent a tumultuous merger and then de-merger with energy utility Alinta. Alinta was then taken over, and its assets were divided up between Singapore Power, Babcock and Brown Infrastructure and Babcock and Brown Power.
The joint venture board reflected these changes. From three directors in 2006, AGL went down to one, and Singapore Power now occupies two board seats.
While ActewAGL insists it is not moving into the power-generation business, the joint venture's commercial horizons have clearly expanded with these changes.
So, what are the implications of all this for the ACT? Like many of us in this city-state, ActewAGL wears many hats.
On the one hand, it is a commercial entity, with a requirement to make returns for shareholders. On the other, as a multi-utility its activities both affect, and are affected by, public policy.In decision-making terms, the board must balance the interests of the ACT Government and the interests of the two private-sector shareholders (AGL and Singapore Power). ActewAGL's performance is measured, not only in financial and service terms, but in relation to the territory's progress towards sustainable practices in water management and water recycling, and in energy use. ActewAGL does not make ACT ''policy'' (that is the job of Actew Corporation and the Government itself). But, as the policy implementer, ActewAGL must clearly be involved in the relevant discussions.
By all accounts, the major players talk regularly to each other, which is obviously essential for sensible coordination. It's just that no one seems to have much idea about how to communicate with the public, particularly when the joint venture is involved.
A sensible beginning might be to acknowledge that in a small city-state an entity as large and important as ActewAGL is the public's business as well.
This would be true whether or not the joint venture was partly publicly owned. The fact that it is (and this was the overwhelming tenor of public sentiment at the time) adds to the imperative to consult.
This is often difficult when so much is uncertain, and the politico-economic negotiations that will determine the practical details of emissions trading have yet to begin. But ACT residents are quite grown-up enough to understand the difficulties. All they ask is that they be included in the conversation.
Dr Jenny Stewart is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Canberra.
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