AGL wants more digital skills in its boardroom

AGL wants to appoint more digital-savvy senior non-executive directors to its board, the company’s chair said in a presentation to investors today.

When it withdrew a demerger plan at the end of May, AGL initiated a strategic review which it presented to analysts today.

Chair Patricia McKenzie said achieving technology aims meant AGL needed to “prioritise directors with skills in digital and customer areas”. 

CFO Damien Nicks (who will become interim CEO in October) said the organisation intends to sharpen its focus on “digitisation and advanced analytics,” simplifying and automating how it operates, and better serving its customers.

Programs already underway include rebuilding its core IT to a more modular architecture, Nicks said, along with going live with digital twins of its troubled Loy Yang and Bayswater coal power stations.

In February, the company announced that $150 millions in savings it expected to flow from the demerger would include workforce reductions of 350, some of which were to be in technology roles.

The company did not identify what proportion of the layoffs would be tech staff, but in its annual report released in August [pdf], Nicks said the target saving was achieved.

“Cost out largely involved a decrease in labour, operational savings and discretionary spend across all business units”, he said at the time.

Key initiatives identified in August included expanding digital customer interactions via the AGL mobile app and MyAccount services; upgrades to the digital control systems that back the Loy Yang and Bayswater digital twins; and upgrades to its “middle layer of technology” including CRM, product catalogues and intelligent business processes.

The other trend that will put a premium on technology skills in the C-suite is decarbonisation.

The company announced the accelerated closure of Loy Yang A, which will now spin down in 2035; and in its first climate transition action plan [pdf] it announced its intention to reach net zero scope 3 emissions by 2050.

AGL will instead put vast investment into renewable generation and “firming capacity” (batteries), which will demand more sophisticated control and monitoring. At the same time, all distributors are seeking “beyond-the-meter” visibility of residential solar generation, so they can balance self-generated electricity with the grid.

The company says decarbonisation will require a $20 billion investment before 2036 to deliver 12GW of generation and firming, 5GW of which will be in place by 2030.