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ActewAGL review

ActewAGL operates throughout the ACT. Here's what you need to know before deciding whether to switch to ActewAGL.

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CHOICE staff
CHOICE staff
Last updated: 09 February 2023

ActewAGL is partly owned by AGL, and operates in the ACT and NSW. The company has just under 170,000 electricity customers, and also supplies gas. ActewAGL was established in 2000, and its head office is in Canberra.

ActewAGL supplies electricity – including solar – to almost 2% of Australia's electricity consumer base. The company is owned in partnership by AGL and Icon Water Ltd, making it partly Australian owned. ActewAGL supplies electricity and gas generated by AGL's assets. ActewAGL is carbon neutral as an organisation, and has one gas product that is as well. It's partly Australian owned.

Contact details for ActewAGL

actewagl.com.au

13 14 93

Which states does ActewAGL supply?

CHOICE Expert Rating on ActewAGL

CHOICE verdict on ActewAGL

Environment (based on AGL, parent company and energy generator)

  • 83% of AGL's generation comes from burning coal.
  • AGL was penalised by EPA NSW for pollution in 2021.
  • It offers carbon offsets (other than GreenPower) and is involved in renewable assets.
  • However, AGL is currently Australia's biggest climate polluter, accounting for about 8% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.
  • It plans to burn coal until 2045 and is involved in mining, as well as burning it.
  • Its green electricity results have sharply declined from a start rating of 5 out of ten in 2019–2020, to 1.3 out of 10 in 2020–21.
  • AGL has comprehensive and accessible energy efficiency products and involvement in demand management/response programs.

Customer service

  • 1,428 (0.9%) of ActewAGL's customers made complaints against the company in 2021–22, according to the Australian Energy Regulator's data.
  • Only 56% of customer service calls made to ActewAGL in 2021–22 were answered within 30 seconds.
  • The average wait time for a call was longer, at 141 seconds.
  • 17.7% of calls made to the company's customer service were abandoned before being answered.

ActewAGL's energy sources

ActewAGL supplies power generated by AGL. Though sources were not transparent during our 2020–21 survey, 83% of AGL's generation comes from coal. Sources listed below are from our 2019–20 survey.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.