When shopping for an agl vs origin provider, many customers factor in their support of renewable energy. To this end, both agl and origin offer a range of green electricity plans. Compared to their competitors however, both companies performed below average in this area. The GEG survey scores Origin Energy a below-average 1 out of 10, while AGL Energy’s score is a more disappointing 2 out of 10.

While both companies invest in renewable energy, they also use large coal-fired power stations. In fact, according to Greenpeace, the company is Australia’s 4th biggest climate polluter. This is due to its gas extraction and burning activities as well as its large Eraring power station located in New South Wales.

Energy Giants Face-Off: AGL vs. Origin – Which Provider Wins

Both companies sell a portion of their electricity in the national market through their Energy Markets division. However, as wholesale prices decline, margins in this business are squeezed. This was highlighted by Origin’s recent missive announcing it would cut Energy Markets profit guidance for the year. Essentially, it expects to see pre-tax earnings fall by 21-31%.

This is disappointing because, in our view, the business deserves better. CEO Grant King has spent two decades carefully assembling a high quality asset portfolio with baked-in protection from higher wholesale energy prices. Unfortunately, that isn’t reflected in the current share price. This is because the billions of debt and equity set aside by management for the giant Asia Pacific LNG project aren’t yet delivering returns.