Australian Energy Retailers Q4 2024 Call Centre Rankings

1. Overall CX Scores

Retail Energy Sector Trends

The Overall CX Scores reflect a composite measure of customer experience, combining key metrics such as Accessibility, Agent Mastery, Average Wait Times, and Calls Answered. These scores provide a holistic view of how well energy retailers are meeting customer expectations, particularly for new connection opportunities.

• The sector-wide Overall CX ranking for Q4 2024 reached 60.1%, the second-highest recorded result for the energy sector, just behind the record 61.0% in Q4 2023.

• This improvement was driven by record-breaking Accessibility scores, making it easier for customers to connect with a live agent for new energy connection enquiries.

• Individual energy retailer CX scores varied significantly, ranging from 51.3% (AGL) to 69.5% (Red Energy), highlighting the disparity in the customer experience across providers.

• The energy sector ranked 2nd among the 7 industries assessed, slightly trailing Education Providers (60.5%), indicating a strong but still improvable position in the broader industry landscape.

Energy Retailer-Specific Results

• Red Energy secured the top position in Q4 2024 with a score of 69.5%, narrowly outperforming Q3 2024 leader ENGIE (69.4%).

• Alinta Energy posted the most significant improvement, achieving 61.5%—a 19.0% jump from Q3 2024, marking its best result to date.

• AGL improved by 4.0 percentage points from Q3 2024 but remained the lowest-ranked provider at 51.3%, closely followed by Origin (52.9%).

Despite their strong second-place ranking, energy retailers’ overall CX performance still falls below industry best practices, earning a ‘below standard’ rating against the Australian Call Centre Quality standards.

The results suggest that energy retailers capable of executing an effective contact centre strategy stand to gain a competitive advantage in customer acquisition and satisfaction.

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2. Accessibility Rankings

Energy Retailers Sector Trends

The Accessibility Ranking measures how easy it is for customers to connect with a live contact centre agent, accounting for factors like queue times, IVR efficiency, and system clarity. This metric is critical as it directly impacts the customer experience, particularly for time-sensitive enquiries such as new connection enquiries where customers might be shopping around different retailers.

• The retail energy sector achieved an Accessibility Ranking of 73.8% in Q4 2024, the highest score recorded for the sector to date. This improvement reflects progress in reducing barriers for customers seeking live assistance.

• Despite this progress, the retail energy sector ranked 4th out of 7 across all industries measured. Car insurance providers recorded the lowest score at 50.9%, while the Education sector set the benchmark with with an impressive 90.4%. This comparison highlights that, even with a sector record score, energy retailers still lag significantly behind industry best practices in making it easy for customers to access live agents.

• Accessibility scores within the energy sector varied widely, from 52.7% (Energy Australia) to 93.4% (ENGIE), illustrating a stark contrast in customer experiences and highlighting inconsistencies in how some energy retailers are capitalising on new business opportunities.

Energy Retailer-Specific Results

• Red Energy led the sector for a third consecutive quarter with an Accessibility Ranking of 93.4%, the highest quarterly score achieved by any energy retailer since records began in Q3 2023. Their performance demonstrates a strong focus on minimising barriers to live assistance, setting a benchmark for other energy retailers to follow.

• Energy Australia recorded the lowest Accessibility Ranking in Q4 2024 of 52.7%, which is also -6.2% lower than their Q3 2024 result of 58.9%.

• After finishing last in Q3 2024, Alinta Energy improved its ranking from 31.4% to 56.6% in Q4 2024 (+25.2%) however, this still placed them second last in the sector and significantly below the sector leaders Red Energy (93.4%) and ENGIE (90.8%.).

The significant gap between top and bottom performers underscores the need for underperforming energy retailers to prioritise improvements in IVR design, reduce queue times, and increase agent availability.

These enhancements are particularly critical for capturing new business opportunities, as delays or barriers in connecting with a live agent can result in missed revenue and a poor first impression for potential customers.

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3. Agent Mastery Scores

Retail Energy Sector Trends

Agent Mastery measures the soft skills and effectiveness of contact centre agents across five core competencies: ENGAGE, DISCOVER, EDUCATE, CLOSE, and ENERGY.

These skills are crucial for delivering a high-quality customer experience, particularly for new business opportunities where agents must establish trust, understand customer needs, and provide clear, actionable advice to secure conversions.

• The average Agent Mastery Ranking for Q4 2024 was 54.3%, marking a positive shift from 53.0% in Q3 2024 and the third consecutive quarter of improvement. This placed the retail energy sector first among all industries assessed, although their Q4 2024 result is still well below their best-ever result of 63.0% in Q3 2023.

• Scores ranged widely, from 41.3% (Origin) to 63.6% (ALINTA), underlining a significant gap in agent performance across providers. Lower-performing energy retailers may need to prioritise targeted training in critical areas such as communication, discovery, and closing skills to improve outcomes in customer interactions and, in turn, better conversions.

Among the five Agent Mastery competencies:

• DISCOVER saw the largest improvement, rising by 3.7% to 45.1%, suggesting that agents are becoming more effective at uncovering customer needs through questioning and active listening, albiet this result is well below industry best practice and is the lowest result of the five agent mastery competencies.

• CLOSE suffered the largest decrease, dropping by 5.9% to 54.0%, indicating a need for agents to conclude interactions with a strong final check, express gratitude, and leave a lasting positive impression.

• CONVERSE, a core soft skill within the ENGAGE competency, continues to be a concern across the sector with a score of just 5.6%, with most agents struggling to encourage customers to share their needs and objectives with the calls sounding more transactional in nature.

Energy Retailer-Specific Results

• Alinta overtook Energy Australia to claim the top spot in Q4 2024, achieving a sector-leading Agent Mastery score of 63.6%, the highest recorded for the quarter.

• Origin ranked lowest among energy retailers for Agent Mastery in Q4 2024, scoring 41.3%. This marks the third time in the past four quarters that they have held the last position.

The significant gap between top and bottom performers, combined with the sector’s low overall CX results, highlights the critical role of agent performance in shaping customer experiences. While we see steady improvements in Agent Mastery, the sector’s overall performance remains below best practice, particularly in converting new sales opportunities.

Underperforming energy retailers risk losing potential business if they do not address these challenges, as stronger agent capabilities align with better customer outcomes and higher conversions.

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4. Calls Answered

Retail Energy Sector Trends

Calls Answered measures the percentage of calls answered by a live agent within 10 minutes of being placed into the queue. All our mystery shopping calls focus on new connection opportunities, meaning delays in answering represent missed opportunities and create a poor first impression for potential new customers.

• The retail energy sector achieved its highest Calls Answered percentage to date, a perfect score, with all energy retailers answering 100% of calls within 10 minutes. They were joined by the Councils and Education providers, who also scored 100%, with the banks in last position at 84.0%.

Energy Retailer-Specific Results

• Only one energy retailer, AGL, has answered 100% of all calls in every quarter we have measured (dating back to Q3 2023).

• Alinta and Energy Australia have achieved two perfect consecutive quarters in a row.

5. Average Wait Times

Retail Energy Sector Trends

Average Wait Time measures the time customers spend in the queue after being placed there, excluding delays caused by IVR navigation, forced messaging, or system menus. This means the actual time it takes customers to connect to a live agent is longer than the figures reported here. (Detailed data on pre-queue delays is available to ACXPA Members.)

• The retail energy sector recorded an average wait time of 0:50 minutes in Q4 2024, its best result to date and a significant improvement from the peak of 2:19 minutes in Q1 2024. This was the fastest result for any sector, marginally ahead of the Education providers (0:51 minutes).

• By comparison, the longest sector average was 2:21 minutes (Banks).

• Wait times within the energy sector varied from a low of 0:04 minutes (ENGIE) to a high of 3:25 minutes (Origin), illustrating the disparity in customer experiences depending on the retailer.

Energy Retailer-Specific Results

• ENGIE led the sector for the second time in 2024, maintaining an average wait time of just 0:04 minutes throughout Q4 2024. This demonstrates their ability to provide a prompt and professional response to new sales opportunities, creating a strong first impression for potential customers discussing their energy needs.

• After leading the sector in Q3 2024 with a time of 0:12 minutes, Alinta was relegated to second place in Q4 2024 with an average wait time of 0:08 minutes, the best result for them to date.

• Origin recorded the longest average wait time at 3:25 minutes, the second consecutive quarter they ranked last in this metric. However, their result did improve from Q3 2024 (4:35 minutes), which was the highest ever recorded for an energy retailer in a quarter.

Notwithstanding, by comparison to at least four other energy retailers with average wait times below 20 seconds, it’s still a significant wait time that could potentially limit opportunities to win new business.