Energy Insights and FAQs

We take your smart meter data, home profile information (if provided), weather, as well as other data, and run it through our algorithms to approximate your energy usage and costs by appliance.

We can generate an estimated breakdown of your usage into as many as 12 appliance categories.

First, we identify the categories that can use a large amount of electricity, like Heating, Cooling, Electric Hot Water, Pool Pump, Standby & always on, and Electric Vehicle, based on the usage from your smart meter.

Fridges & Freezers, and Standby & always on are identified from your smart meter usage when other appliances are not running.

Once we’ve estimated usage for the larger categories, we then use statistical data to approximate how much your other appliance categories, like Home Entertainment, Laundry & Dishwasher, Cooking, and Lighting are consuming

The Anything Else category includes usage we cannot identify individually, including smaller appliances e.g. smartphone chargers, hair dryers, fans.

Please note: Appliance usage estimates aren’t 100% accurate, though we’re continuously improving our algorithms to deliver relevant, useful Energy Insights for you.

If you’re a residential AGL electricity customer, you may be eligible. You’ll need a smart meter installed, and be registered for AGL eBilling before we can provide you with Energy Insights. You can sign up for eBilling by registering or logging into AGL My Account. This service isn’t available to AGL gas or solar customers.

Not at this stage, unfortunately. We’re working hard on building a solution for our solar customers, and we'll get in touch as soon as it's available.

Sorry, but we cannot currently provide Energy Insights to customers who don't have a smart meter. We're working on a solution for you, and we'll be in touch once it's available.

At this stage, the service is only available to AGL residential electricity customers with a smart meter installed. We’re working hard on building a solution for our gas customers and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available.

If your new home has a smart meter installed, doesn’t have solar and you remain an AGL electricity customer, you will start to receive the Energy Insights service.

You can receive up to two Energy Insights emails each bill cycle: a mid-bill email, which includes your cost-to-date and projected bill, and, gives you time to adjust your usage before your bill is issued; and an end-bill Energy Insights report, which contains insights into your energy use for the bill period. You’ll also get personalised recommendations to help you reduce energy wastage.

It’s easy to manage the frequency of your Energy Insights emails. Just login or register for My Account, go to Manage Account then Energy Insights.

That’s right. We're using your smart electricity meter data and running this through our algorithms to break down your energy use by category and help you figure out whether you're using energy. However, we also use population-wide energy data to estimate some of the categories of your energy use. These include Home Entertainment, Laundry & Dishwasher, Cooking, and Lighting.

Energy Insights helps you understand your energy use. By providing you with our estimated breakdown of where your electricity was used you will now have better information to make decisions on how to manage your household appliances. You'll better understand your charges, what may have accounted for them. While at this stage, our service cannot be 100% accurate, the more information you have about your energy usage, the better decisions you can make for your home and budget.

Though we’re continuously improving our algorithms to deliver you relevant and useful information, the Energy Insights appliance category usage estimates aren’t 100% accurate. You should seek independent advice before purchasing a new appliance.

If energy usage in a category on your report seems high, we recommend you check that information before taking any action. Government websites such as Your energy savings also provide valuable information that can help you manage your energy usage. Some also explain other ways to more accurately measure how much energy you are using at a particular time, such as Your Home.

We compare your home’s appliance energy use to other homes that share similar characteristics based on your home profile (if provided). These characteristics can include: home type and size, number of people living in the home, types of appliances (e.g. heating, cooling, electric hot water, pool), and postcode. The remaining appliances that are broken out are estimated using statistical techniques which means we are unable to provide a similar homes comparison for these categories. Filling out your Home Profile is an easy way to increase the relevance of this comparison.

If something doesn’t look right in your report, the best thing you can do is go to AGL My Account and complete or update your home profile.

If your report is showing an appliance category you don’t have (e.g. pool pump), it means that our algorithms have incorrectly allocated some of your electricity usage for the period to this category. Similarly, if a category is missing (e.g. cooking), the usage for this category has been allocated to one or more of the appliance categories in your report.

Don’t worry, an extra appliance category doesn’t mean you have been overcharged; just like a missing category doesn’t mean that you have received an extra discount! This is because the amounts shown at the top of your Energy Insights report are based on your electricity usage for the period, which is recorded by your smart electricity meter. We take your smart meter data, home profile information (if provided), weather, as well as other data, and run it through our algorithms to approximate your usage and costs by appliance.

We use your home profile information to feed the algorithms forecasting your bill, estimating your usage break down, and personalising your recommendations. The more you feed these math machines, the more they'll work for you.

The information you provide about your home and appliances will always be given priority over the estimates generated by our algorithms. That’s why completing your home profile is so important.

If, when filling in your home profile, you are not 100% sure which type of appliance you have (e.g. electric or gas hot water system), it is best that you select the “Don’t know” option. This will help us give you the best possible estimate of your electricity use by appliance category.

Please keep in mind that it can take up 30 days before updates to your Home Profile will be reflected in your Energy Insights reports. You can update your Home Profile anytime via AGL’s My Account portal.

The appliance usage figures in your report are estimates and are rounded to the nearest dollar or percentage amount. As a result, the appliance usage estimates and other charges (e.g. supply charge) may not add up to the amount shown at the top of your Energy Insights report.

This information is not shared with anyone outside of AGL.

The ‘Heating’ appliance category may include the electricity used to run fans in gas heaters such as ducted gas systems.

You asked for greater visibility over your energy usage, and a better understanding of your costs. We’ve listened, and, have worked hard to offer Energy Insights to eligible customers. We've been overwhelmed with positive feedback from customers who’ve trialed the service, with many telling us how they've learnt that making small adjustments around their home can help limit energy waste.

The Energy Insights service is an additional tool for customers to help them understand and manage their household energy usage and costs.

We calculate your projected bill using your historical data and estimate your average daily energy usage for your current billing period. This projection includes your usage charges and other items such as supply charges, concessions, and guaranteed discounts. It doesn’t include any carry forward balances, Pay on Time discounts or manual adjustments. Your actual bill may be different from your projected bill if your usage patterns change during the billing period.

Every Energy Insights email report we send you includes a feedback link for you to use. We’re working hard to improve this service, and any feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

It takes time to crunch the numbers, and we need to make sure the insights we provide you are as accurate and relevant as possible.

You don’t need to sign up. If your account is eligible, you’ll be opted into the Energy Insights service. To be eligible, you must be a residential AGL electricity customer, have a smart meter installed and be registered for e-billing. You can sign up for eBilling by registering or logging into AGL My Account. This service isn’t available to AGL gas or solar customers.

If you’re not eligible, you can register your interest in the service here.

You can opt out of Energy Insights emails at any time. Just click the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the Energy Insights email. Or login or register for My Account, go to Manage Account, select Energy Insights, and update your email preferences.

If you’ve cancelled your Energy Insights emails in the past, re-subscribing is easy. Just login or register for My Account, go to Manage Account, select Energy Insights, and switch the service back on.

No, the Energy Insights reports are only estimates of your usage and projected costs and don’t replace your energy bills. You’ll still receive your regular energy bills and should pay those as normal.

No. This is a free service from AGL.

Service or supply charges are generally calculated as a fixed amount charged for each day of the billing period. They’re not related to your energy use. These charges cover some of the costs of maintaining and operating the distribution and transmission networks, as well as some of the operational costs of supplying our customers.

Appliance category estimates are a breakdown of the total usage charges for the period, including GST, prior to any concessions, discounts, or other charges and adjustments. This means that if you are eligible for discounts, concessions or other adjustments, the total of your energy usage breakdown estimate may be greater than the total amount of your bill.

However, Pay on Time discounts are included the “total new charges” amount shown on the Energy Insights report you receive a few days after your bill.

The mid-bill Energy Insights email doesn’t include any Pay on Time discounts: both the “cost to date” and “projected bill” amounts on that email exclude Pay on Time discounts, but they do include other discounts and concessions.

This category includes, but is not limited to, fees associated with green energy plans, late payment fees, credit/debit adjustments from previous billing periods, merchant service fees or meter read fees. Please refer to your AGL electricity bill for more details on any fees and charges applicable to your account.

Concessions are government funded rebates for customers holding eligible pensioner, healthcare, or Gold DVA cards. This can also include concessions for customers on life support or with certain medical conditions.

Discounts can be, but aren’t limited to, pay on time discounts or those related to having both gas and electricity with AGL. If you’re entitled to discounts under your Energy Plan, these will be listed on your Energy Insights report below the category breakdown. Please refer to your AGL electricity bill for the details of any applicable discounts.

Yes, if you’re receiving concessions on your AGL bill, they’ll be reflected in the total new charges of your Energy Insights report, and, will be listed below the category breakdown.

However, the concession is not taken into account in the appliance category estimate. Appliance category estimates are a breakdown of the total usage charges for the period, including GST, prior to any concessions, discounts, or other charges and adjustments.

Even though you’re on fixed regular payments with Bill Smoothing, any reductions you make to your usage could decrease your future weekly, fortnightly, or monthly payment amounts.