Purpose, Values & Strategy
AGL is a leading integrated energy business that has been operating for more than 180 years and has a proud heritage of innovation. We operate Australia’s largest private electricity generation portfolio, with a total capacity of 10,413 MW, which accounts for approximately 20% of the total generation capacity within Australia’s National Electricity Market. We are an active participant in gas and electricity wholesale markets with more than 3.7 million customer accounts, including residential, small and large business and wholesale customers.
Purpose and values
The energy sector is experiencing a period of significant change, characterised by shifting customer expectations, adoption of new technologies, greater government and regulatory intervention, and an uncertain investment environment.
Against this backdrop, AGL undertook a comprehensive review of our purpose and values during FY19 to ensure we had the right framework to evolve our organisational culture, guide our decision-making and support our communication.
The outcomes were a refreshed purpose statement with the concept of Progress for Life as its central theme, and a refreshed set of values that build on this theme, while recognising the power of our 180-year heritage.
Our refreshed company values are:
- Care in every action
- Integrity always
- Better together
- Deliver your best, and
- Shape tomorrow.
At AGL we recognise that we have an important role to play in supporting progress – both technological and human – for our customers, our communities, the Australian economy and our planet.
The theme of progress recognises our proud history of delivering innovative outcomes for customers, as well as how we are continuing to evolve how Australians produce, share and consume energy.
To us, progress means helping customers achieve better ways of living day-to-day by enabling them to take greater control over their energy and other essential services. It also means investing in new ideas, partnerships and infrastructure – renewing and expanding our portfolio of energy sources and other products to make them more sustainable, reliable, affordable and useful.
Operating environment
Strategic priorities
AGL is currently focused on three strategic priorities: Growth, Transformation and Social Licence.
Growth reflects the need for AGL to invest in new opportunities to meet evolving customer needs. This is especially important as traditional sources of value such as thermal electricity generation decline and may ultimately need to be replaced altogether.
The ‘Growth focus areas’ section outlines key areas that arose for AGL out of a material review of opportunities available to our business.
Transformation reflects AGL’s need to reposition, refresh and reinvigorate the business in a changing world, especially as digital technology continues to alter customers’ expectations.
Social Licence reflects the need to meet and exceed rising community expectations at a time when we need to rebuild fallen levels of trust in large institutions.
How we create value
Growth focus areas
AGL’s ability to undertake major investment in capital projects and acquisitions has historically provided the foundation for considerable value creation for AGL’s shareholders.
Following a fundamental review of opportunities available, during FY19 we have defined three focus areas for our next phase of growth investment. These are: optimise existing portfolio for performance and value; evolve and expand core energy market offerings; and create new opportunities with connected customers.
While our electricity generation portfolio will transition away from coal over time, the first focus area reflects that these assets will remain important to Australia’s energy system for many years. We need to invest to ensure they are secure, reliable and flexible – not least to provide back-up from dispatchable power as the system transitions to more renewables. This is why we are investing in upgrades at our Bayswater and Loy Yang A power stations that will improve reliability and flexibility but not bring any increase in carbon emissions.
The second focus area reflects the market’s need for new sources of energy generation, supply and storage. This is why we are building projects such as the Barker Inlet Power Station in South Australia, which can respond quickly to reduced supply from other sources or spikes in demand, and pursuing the Crib Point liquified natural gas (LNG) import jetty in Victoria to provide a new supply of gas. It’s also why we are developing a pipeline of future projects including pumped hydro, as outlined on Infrastructure , and why we continue to look for grid-scale battery opportunities.
The third focus area includes opportunities in distributed energy such as home storage and electric vehicles, including the residential battery offering AGL is bringing to market in FY20. Central to these new technologies and solutions is the convergence of energy and data value streams, bringing together the provision of data services such as broadband with energy services, and enabling development of new and innovative products and services.
