What makes someone choose an energy provider?

There’s no better way for us to find out than hearing directly from our customers and understanding what’s on their minds.

This year we introduced a new program to more regularly expose AGL’s senior leaders to the array of interactions our frontline has with customers every day. That might be a problem with a connection, frustration about billing or a suggestion for improvement.

There's no substitute to hearing from customers first-hand.

Inviting our leaders to listen to customer phone call, attend customer research groups and drop in for customer visits provides that essential first-hand insight. We’re in this together and it helps us help our customers if we know what their pain points are, and any potential areas for improvement.

The reality is, if customers need to reach out to us, they want simplicity and efficiency. That might mean:

• Quick resolutions to phone queries
• Resolving more than one query in a single call – preferably without needing to transfer operators
• Explaining what makes up a customer’s energy bill in straight-forward terms
• Treating privacy as paramount
• Sharing our options to help customers suffering financial hardship, or
• Helping ensure a smooth transition during stressful times, such as moving house.

As a provider of an essential service, it’s critical that we not only meet our customers’ needs but exceed their expectations. So, what are we doing about it?

We’re focused on transforming our service, building trust and growing our customer base by creating new opportunities.

As part of this, we’re equipping our frontline with the right tools and information, automating processes and driving AGL’s digital transformation to ensure our customers experience our service promise.

We’re looking at new ways to recognise customers for their loyalty, address affordability and deliver better customer outcomes by collaborating across the energy industry.

And we’re expanding our customer service proposition and exploring new opportunities for consumers – including batteries, smart homes, electric vehicles and more.

We’re making progress but there will always be more to do when it comes to meeting the needs of our customers and the community. But to keep doing this, we need to keep listening, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.