A few of us were happily breakfasting at Cafe Garema this morning when the power on the whole block went out at about quarter to 8. Turns out that Actew were doing works in the area and had stuffed something up. From what we heard, power is expected back up around 10am.
Luckily we had gotten [...]

I got my gas bill this evening. I nearly had a heart attack. Apparently I have used $703.04 worth of gas to heat my home over the last 12 days.
However, after I breathed into a paper bag and had a glass of Shiraz I worked it out. ActewAGL have calculated my bill based on [...]

Hi guys,
I’m after some advice in regards to our gas meter readings if anyone can help!???!!
So my partner and I have just recently moved in to a newly built house in the new area of west Macgregor, we are the first people to occupy the house and seeing as we are due to have our [...]

When I moved in to my apartment I connected to ActewAGL for electricity and soon started receiving gas bills that included the normal service charge and some gas consumption. After a while the meter reading stopped increasing and from then on I have been only getting “service charges” as I am registering no gas consumption.
I [...]

The Canberra Times has the bombshell news that John Mackay is quitting amidst the extraordinary scenes brought on by the under reporting of Mark Sullivans salary to run Actew Water.
When we get official statements we’ll add them in here.

UPDATE 15/04/13 16:27: Katy Gallagher and Andrew Barr’s statement is now available:
Outcomes from the meeting are detailed [...]

ActewAGL have been a busy little company making energy-saving house calls to over 2,700 Canberra homes since the program started in Feb, installing over 20,500 energy saving lightbulbs since the program started in Feb.
ActewAGL General Manager Retail Ayesha Razzaq said, “The program has received a very positive response from the community with over 2,700 [...]

In a recent report ACTEW understated its CEO’s salary by $235k. Understandably they are a little embarrassed and nobody is saying very much. Mark Sullivan’s correct salary should have read $855,588, ABC News reported earlier today.
When you earn a salary that ridiculously huge it’s probably quite easy to misplace $235k, and we should all give [...]

I wandered down to have a sausage and a can of soft drink on Civic Walk today to continue Canberra’s birthday celebrations. A reasonable crowd were hanging out watching the ceremony on TV, a small queue had formed for the traditional sausage on white bread, and it wasn’t a bad way to spend a [...]

[ 12 March, 2013; 11:00 am to 1:30 pm. ]

ActewAGL have sent out word that they’re putting on a do on City Walk for the exact birthday of Canberra on 12 March:

ActewAGL, Principal Partner of the Centenary of Canberra, invites Canberrans to join in raising a toast for Canberra’s birthday at a free barbecue outside the ActewAGL Assist store on City Walk in [...]

RFS has sent this in:
This graffiti can be found on what I believe to be an ActewAGL building located near the junction of Stuart Street and Evans Crescent in Griffith. Either the deity in question has very retro tastes or some Canberrans have a very retro image of him. Not sure which,
Got an image of [...]

Canberra’s most fashionable crims like to dress up as police officers.
But for the less discerning low life ActewAGL has the thrilling news that an ActewAGL jumper and jacket has been liberated during a burglary:
ActewAGL and ACT Policing are reminding Canberra residents not to allow entry into their land by anyone claiming to be an [...]

ActewAGL are giving warning that they’re putting a helo back into the sky to inspect their powerlines:
ActewAGL will be carrying out a helicopter inspection of overhead powerlines from Monday 4 to Friday 15 March 2013 (weather permitting), as part of its bushfire prevention program.
ActewAGL General Manager Network Services Robert Atkin said, “The helicopter patrol [...]

Actew’s compliance with the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Act 2012 means you can keep a small wad for yourself

Gas Power and Water behemoth ActewAGL are letting us know they’ve won a Roy Morgan Research award:
At an event in Melbourne this week, Roy Morgan Research Chief Executive Officer Michele Levine announced the results of customer satisfaction ratings, collected through its 2012 Consumer Single Source survey of over 50,000 Australians and its Business Single [...]

Having taken a gig at the University of Canberra it seemed unlikely Capitals coach Carrie Graf was going anywhere.
This morning Basketball ACT are making known the deal is done:
In a coup for the Women’s National Basketball League, legendary coach Carrie Graf has signed a new deal with The Tradies Canberra Capitals – keeping her with [...]

ActewAGL have the thrilling news that they’ve decided to keep spending your money on their pet football players, but now with a Centenary Twist:
ActewAGL is pleased to announce its continued sponsorship of the Canberra Raiders and Brumbies into the 2013 season – Canberra’s Centenary year.
The two-fold sponsorship announcement is testament to ActewAGL’s strong commitment [...]

At the end of January we called time on the Better Place electric car scheme.
But the optimists at ActewAGL and in the ACT Government remained in pollyanna mode (at least in public) today the ABC confirms the money and the dream have indeed gone.
ActewAGL was one of the initial investors in the project, putting [...]

Zed Seselja is asking questions about where the ACT’s money has gone with Better Place going titsup?
ACT Opposition Leader Zed Seselja has today questioned the ACT Labor Government on how much money the part government owned company ActewAGL and the government itself have spent on Canberra’s future electric car network, which is now in doubt.
“The [...]

ActewAGL are letting people know they think they’ve fixed the damage of the weekend’s storms:
Last night ActewAGL had responded to all electricity interruptions caused by storms on Saturday 26 January.
ActewAGL General Manager Networks Services Rob Atkin said, “Last night crews interrupted the electricity supply to 35 customers in Hawker and 20 customers in Curtin in [...]

The ABC has the intriguing news that Queensland’s ERM Power Retail has won an ACT Government electricity contract worth $16 million, beating out the ACT Government part owned ActewAGL:
Territory and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenbury says the decision was made by directorate representatives based on a tender process.
“I imagine ActewAGL are incredibly disappointed to [...]

ActewAGL’s outages page shows failures in parts south; Greenway, Kambah, and Wanniassa, and North; Hackett, Watson.
They’re anticipating getting it back at 5.30 in the south and 5 for the north.
We’ve also had reports of power outages in Weston, which they’ve tweeted to:
#power #outages #Canberra Crews are working to repair electricity interruptions in #Stirling #Weston #Waramanga
— [...]

Todd has snapped the magnificence of the ActewAGL helicopter:
The helicopter was flying around several times so I decided to get the camera out to see what it was.
Got an image of Canberra you want to share with the world? Email it in to images@the-riotact.com .

CityNews reports that the doyenne of Canberra FM radio (such as it is), Cam Sullings, is moving to the heart of the government patronage machinery.
Canberra FM Radio general manager Eoghan O’Byrne says after 20 years, Cam has “decided to embark on a new journey” and accepted a position with ActewAGL as their Senior Sponsorship & [...]

I’m badly affected by this as my house is ready to move in but no power… still in apartment with huge mortgage/rent/storage costs etc…. can’t shop around for power as we stuck with ACTEW monopoly in Canberra…
Anyone else affected?
[ED - The SMH has a story on this]

ActewAGL have posted their letter to the editor on the subject of Greenchoice customers paying carbon tax prices:
I write to respond to recent discussion in the media regarding the impact of carbon pricing on ActewAGL’s Greenchoice program.
ActewAGL agrees that incurring carbon costs as a Greenchoice customer seems counterintuitive. Energy customers all across Australia are understandably [...]

Long time reader, first time rioter
I’m half way through a two year bundle with ACTEWAGL for my phone, electricity and gas.
I’ve had these services with ACTEWAGL for the last 5 years and last year I was called by a salesperson asking if I’d like to “bundle and save”.  My most recent bill shows [...]

The Greens’ Shane Rattenbury has more curly questions surrounding ActewAGL’s pricing of green energy:
Since 2002, the price of renewable energy certificates (RECs) has dropped from around $60 to $30– yet ActewAGL’s Green Choice premium remains unchanged at 7.5 cents per kilowatt,” said ACT Greens Energy Spokesperson Shane Rattenbury.
“The premium is meant to reflect the price [...]

The SMH has an intriguing story on complaints to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission by Canberra Greenchoice customers who are being hit with a carbon tax despite paying through the nose for years for supposedly carbon free electricity:
ActewAGL retail general manager Ayesha Razzaq said the utility was aware the ACCC was watching companies and [...]

ActewAGL have the intriguing news that they’re going to be flying a helicopter low over most of town to inspect their overhead powerlines.
ActewAGL will be carrying out a helicopter inspection of overhead powerlines from Monday 13 August to Friday 17 August 2012 (weather permitting), as part of its bushfire prevention program.
ActewAGL General Manager Network [...]

So One Big Switch have organised a 17% discount for ACT residents who switch to Truenergy. The deal is 3% off the bill then another 14% off when you pay on time. I rang ActewAGL to see if then would do a better deal for me and was told they only discounts they [...]

In the maelstrom that is the kerfuffle about ACTEW Water’s (read “our”) $2.5 million bill for rebranding, I was somewhat taken aback by Mark Sullivan’s pronouncement that ACTEW Water had now branched out into neologism.
As the Crimes reports, in dismissing criticism of the rebranding, Mark boldly declared:
[quote]”Actew is just a word for us, it’s [...]

The ABC reports on the bill to hand water services back from ActewAGL to Actew Water in an increasingly complicated dance which one can only hope is leading to electricity privatisation (otherwise the whole thing has been insane).
On July 1, Actew Water assumed direct responsibility for the management and operation of the water and sewage [...]