AGL has entered into an agreement with Kaluza to roll out a new technology platform, designed to transform its customer operations, as part of its Retail Transformation Program.
The program is expected to focus on enhancing the customer and agent experience by significantly reducing operating costs and improving speed to market, and is a key step to accelerating AGL’s ambition to connect customers to a sustainable future through electrification.
The Kaluza software platform is a scalable, flexible technology that digitises and simplifies energy billing, designed to reduce cost to serve and enable faster product innovation.
The Kaluza platform is used by OVO Energy in the UK to service more than six million customers.
AGL said it will deploy the software into its customer base over the next three years, transferring 4 million consumer electricity and gas customer services onto the platform.
The Retail Transformation Program aims to deliver a reduction in operating costs and capital expenditure, with net benefits expected to commence in FY28 and expected pre-tax cash savings of approximately $70–90 million annually from FY29.
The estimated implementation costs for the residential and small business customer solution component of the Retail Transformation Program will be approximately $300 million over four financial years, beginning in FY24. This includes costs associated with the program and change management, customer migration, systems integration and change within supporting platforms.
In addition, AGL will transform its operating model to deliver effortless experiences for customers, supported by nimble, flexible and empowered teams underpinned by the platform.
This phase of the program excludes AGL large business customers. AGL said it will continue to consider transformation options for these customers.
AGL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Damien Nicks, said, “This represents a significant milestone in our transformation journey to connect more customers to a sustainable future. Our world-class technology, enabled by Kaluza and alongside other industry partnerships, will allow us to develop a future suite of simplified products that will seamlessly integrate into the lives of our customers and improve their experience.
“The technology market is changing materially with the emergence of new core utility platforms offering greater flexibility and speed, which makes it imperative to partner with industry leaders, and is why we have chosen Kaluza.
“OVO Energy Australia has experienced strong customer growth, with all customers migrated to Kaluza in 2023 while achieving a Net Promoter Score of 40 plus. As a result of the OVO Energy Australia investment and our proposed 20 per cent equity interest, AGL has strengthened its relationship with the OVO Group which will enable us to accelerate our strategic ambition to support customers as they decarbonize and electrify.
“This is an exciting opportunity for AGL and its customers. The Kaluza platform will enable new product innovation at speed, whilst at the same time materially reducing operating costs for AGL’s customer business in the future,” Mr Nicks said.
Kaluza Chief Exectuive Officer, Melissa Gander, said, “Being selected by AGL as its cornerstone partner to reimagine energy together is a significant milestone for Kaluza and a testament to the game-changing capabilities of our platform.
“We are quickly establishing ourselves as the software partner of choice for energy retailers and look forward to helping drive AGL’s retail transformation and decarbonisation ambitions, while putting its customers in control.”
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