AGL builds consumer data right platform on Microsoft cloud

AGL Energy has built a platform for complying with its consumer data right obligations on Microsoft cloud. 

Chief technology officer Hugh Fahy said in a statement that the platform was built “in just 12 months and within the regulatory timeframe.”

AGL, along with Origin Energy and Energy Australia, were required to be able to share data on customers' request by November 15 last year. 

The scheme mandates designated sectors provide ‘customer data’, ‘account data’, ‘billing data’, ‘product specific data’ and ‘usage data’ to accredited third parties such as budgeting apps and comparison websites, if a customer requests it.

Customers can use the data to analyse their consumption and usage patterns. This could help them to choose products and services that might better meet their specific needs.

Under the CDR, companies can also become accredited as data recipients, allowing them to be potential recipients - in additon to providers - of data.

For AGL, becoming an accredited data recipient "may ... enable [it] to unlock potential growth opportunities."

"These opportunities include recruiting more customers to participate in AGL’s virtual power plant scheme and offering customers personalised and innovative services," AGL said.

Those services are said to include "bill forecasting, bill management and bill smoothing; data integrations with open banking…and recommendations on more efficient energy usage.”

Fahy said AGL collaborated with several Microsoft partners and external software-as-a-service providers and was helped by “our [AGL] team’s extensive experience using the Microsoft cloud.” 

AGL integrated its analytics capability into Microsoft Azure in 2020 and said at the time that all computing would be transitioned to Microsoft cloud by 2022. 

The consumer data regime began with banks on 1 July 2020 and will be rolled out to the telecommunications sector next, and now to energy.