AGL sells electricity to over 2.1 million households, or nearly 21% of Australia's residential customers, according to 2020-21 figures. AGL joined the Australian market in 1837, supplying gas for street lamps, and claims to have a proud heritage of innovation. AGL speaks toward sustainability in its media pages, claiming approximately 20% of the total generation capacity within Australia's National Electricity Market.
On this page:
- Which states does AGL supply?
- CHOICE Expert rating on AGL
- CHOICE verdict on AGL
- AGL's energy sources
AGL was established in 1837 and currently has over 2 million residential customers - it is a publicly owned entity, which means it is partially Australian owned. Its head office is in Sydney with a call centre in Melbourne.
It is one of the few energy retailers that is climate active. However, the company owns and operates coal, gas, battery, hydro, solar and wind energy. It operates large coal-fired power stations and gas-fired power plants.
Contact details for AGL Energy
- agl.com.au
- 13 12 45
Which states does AGL supply?
CHOICE Expert rating on AGL
CHOICE verdict on AGL
Environmental
- 83% of AGL's generation comes from burning coal. It's Australia's biggest climate polluter accounting for about 8% of national greenhouse gas emissions.
- It currently has extensive investments in CSG and coal power stations, with emissions intensity above NEM average.
- AGL was penalised by EPA NSW for pollution in 2021.
- Its green electricity results have sharply declined from a star rating of 7 out of 10 in 2019-2020, to 1.2 out of 10 in 2020-21.
- It plans to burn coal until 2045 and is involved in mining, as well as burning it.
- It offers carbon offsets (other than GreenPower) and is involved in renewable assets.
- AGL has comprehensive and accessible energy efficiency products and involvement in demand management/response programs.
Customer service
- 17,793 (or 0.8%) of AGL's customers lodged complaints again the company in 20120-21. This is a notable decrease on the 48,330 complaints lodged in 2019-20.
- 63% of calls made to AGL are answered within 30 seconds.
- Many callers are left waiting longer – the average wait time is 68 seconds.
- 5.5% of callers hang up before their call is answered. This is more than double the 2% of callers that hung up during our 2019-20 survey.
