Six months after Actew Water appealed against a decision to cut water and sewerage prices, ACT Treasurer Andrew Barr has yet to set up a panel to hear the appeal.
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His inaction leaves the $83-a-year average cut to water and sewerage prices in limbo. The price cut took effect last year, so Canberra households have been paying less since July.
Mr Barr said the government was looking for suitable people to hear the appeal and would announce them ''in due course''.
If the appeal panel overturns the price cuts, the new water and sewerage charges would not be backdated, he confirmed.
The issue has become caught up in an Auditor-General's inquiry into the way water and sewerage prices are set in the territory.
The inquiry is expected to report this month. Mr Barr is also waiting for that report before pushing ahead with the appeal panel.
Water and sewerage prices are set by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission.
Last year, the commission decided to raise water prices by about 5 per cent (after initially flagging a 17 per cent cut), and cut sewerage prices by 18 per cent (knocking more than $100 off the annual supply charge).
The changes amounted to a saving each year of $83 for a typical Canberra household.
The price cut took effect last year, despite an appeal from Actew Water in September, and Mr Barr said last year it amounted to a budget hit of $20-$25 million a year.
This is the first time a decision of the commission has been appealed, and there was no regime in place even to pay the panel.
The Remuneration Tribunal has since set a daily fee for the three panelists.
The price cut last year was hotly contested by Actew, which employed Sydney economic consulting firm Nera to critique the decision.
The consultants' report accused the pricing commission of intruding on Actew's business and tracking individual projects, rather than leaving the water company free to make its own commercial decisions, and of fundamental shortcomings in its decision making.
It strongly criticised the commission's decision to review prices every two years, instead of every six, saying that was out of step with other jurisdictions, would be costly and would reduce incentives for Actew to make efficiencies.
Consultant Greg Houston said the pricing decision was ''close to the low water mark'' in poor process, and left Actew in a highly uncertain operating environment.
Auditor-General Maxine Cooper said her audit, expected to be tabled this month, looked at the effectiveness of the way water and sewerage prices were set in Canberra, including the roles of the pricing commission and Actew, and communication protocols among key groups.
