Executive Summary – Energy Retailers Q1 2025
Introduction
This section provides an overview of just 5 of the 80+ metrics assessed as part of the Energy Retailers CX Benchmarking Services, which helps leading energy retailers improve their service delivery and sales conversions.
An executive summary of the energy sector’s performance is available below, with more detailed analysis and report downloads accessible to ACXPA Subscribers and Members.
Top Performers
✅ Best Overall CX Performer – ENGIE (73.4%)
ENGIE returned to the top of the leaderboard with its highest CX score on record, edging out Red Energy (72.7%). It’s the third time in five quarters ENGIE has led the sector.
📈 Top Accessibility Performer – ENGIE (95.7%)
ENGIE also delivered the best Accessibility result ever recorded for Energy Retailers, setting a new benchmark for how quickly and easily customers can reach a live agent.
⭐️ Best Agent Mastery – ENERGY AUSTRALIA (66.4%)
Energy Australia continues to set the standard in quality, leading the sector in Agent Mastery for the fourth time in five quarters with consistently high-performing frontline interactions.
💡 Industry Insight:
Overall CX performance dipped slightly in Q1 2025 (–0.6 pts from Q4 2024 and –0.8 pts from Q1 2024), but Energy Retailers still ranked second among all industry sectors – trailing only Internet Service Providers at 61.1%.
Biggest CX Challenges
📉 Ongoing Performance Struggles
AGL (–4.8 pts) and Alinta (–7.9 pts) were the only two energy retailers to decrease their Overall CX rankings from the previous quarter, with one or the other consistently in last place each quarter since reporting began in Q3 2023, suggesting ongoing challenges in meeting call demand and agent training and coaching.
🧠 Skill Gaps in Agent Mastery
Across the sector, the quality of agent interactions remains well below best practice as measured by the Contact Centre CX Standards. The spread is significant – Q1 2025 saw highs of 73.7% (Energy Australia) and lows of 35.3% (Origin), resulting in a range of experiences for customers shopping around, providing opportunities for energy retailers to stand out in a competitive market.
😡 It’s Tough Getting Through to a Live Agent
While some retailers offer fast, frictionless access with minimal menus, others are forcing prospective customers through up to 4 layers of menu options and over a minute of mandatory messages – creating unnecessary barriers at a critical point of first contact.
🏆 Key Wins
📞 Energy Retailers have maintained a high call answer rate of 99.2%, ensuring minimal new opportunities are wasted.
⏱️ Record-Breaking Wait Time – ENGIE
ENGIE has achieved average wait times of under 3 seconds for the past two consecutive quarters, the leading result of all contact centres measured (equal with Dodo Internet).
📈 Soft Skills are on the Rise
Agent Mastery, which measures the soft skills and behaviours of frontline agents, has improved for four consecutive quarters.
Recognising Call Centre Excellence in the Energy Sector
Congratulations to the top-performing energy retailers delivering standout customer experiences via their call centre in Q1 2025. These results are based on independent mystery shopping assessments, using real customer enquiries to evaluate how well contact centres are meeting the expectations of Australian households.
While industry averages provide important benchmarks, it’s the ability to respond quickly, reduce friction, and convert interest into action that separates the best from the rest.
73.4%
72.7%
58.4%
46.5%Quarterly Trend – Overall CX
Energy Retailers
The Overall CX Rankings reflect how easy it is to connect and communicate with a live customer service agent at an Australian Education provider via their contact centre.
The rankings are determined by the Accessibility rankings (how easy it was to connect) and Agent Mastery rankings (the interaction with the live agent), with weightings applied to the key drivers of customer satisfaction.
Key Metrics Trend – Energy Retailers (12-Month View)
The chart below highlights a 12-month trend across three core CX performance metrics for Australian energy retailers:
- Overall CX – A weighted composite score reflecting the end-to-end customer experience, factoring in accessibility, agent quality, and call handling efficiency.
- Accessibility – The ease of reaching a human agent.
- Agent Mastery – The quality and effectiveness of agent conversations.
While Overall CX dipped marginally in Q1 2025, the decline was primarily due to a drop in Accessibility, driven by a 13-second increase in average wait times across the sector. Encouragingly, Agent Mastery continued its steady improvement, softening the impact and pointing to ongoing gains in frontline capability.
Overall CX
This is the headline metric – representing the total customer experience across every stage of the call journey. It’s calculated using a weighted combination of the Accessibility and Agent Mastery scores, providing a holistic view of how well energy retailers are delivering end-to-end service during key sales interactions.
Accessibility
This measures how easily and quickly prospective customers can reach a real person. It includes navigating phone menus, clarity of options, queue times, and whether callers successfully speak with a representative. Higher scores reflect smoother, more customer-friendly access experiences.
Agent Mastery
This evaluates the quality and professionalism of frontline service. It includes how well energy staff greet, listen, explain plan options, handle moving enquiries, and support switching decisions – along with empathy, clarity, and overall service delivery. It’s a direct measure of agent capability during high-value conversations.
Learn more about the Australian Contact Centre CX Standards that power these assessments.
Call Centre CX Quadrant – Australian Energy Retailers Q1 2025
This Call Centre CX Quadrant illustrates how Australian Energy retailers compare in Accessibility (ease of reaching a live agent) and Agent Mastery (quality of customer interactions).
Striking the right balance is no easy feat – some Energy retailers offer fast and easy access but fall short in agent skill or engagement, which can undermine the overall experience.
Others may deliver strong agent interactions but frustrate customers with long wait times or difficult IVRs before help is even reached.
The top-right quadrant represents CX best practice – Energy retailers who make it both easy to get help and deliver high-quality conversations once the conversation begins. 📊⚡️
