Good morning, everyone. My name is Miles George, and I'm your Chair. Welcome to AGL 's 2025 Annual General Meeting, my first meeting as Chair of AGL. It's a pleasure for the AGL Board to be present here in Sydney for today's meeting. I'd like to start the meeting by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to their elders past and present. Shareholders attending via our online platform may be doing so from other ancestral lands, and I also pay my respects to the traditional custodians of those lands and their elders past and present. May I ask you to make sure that your mobile phones are switched to silent while the meeting is in progress.
Filming of this meeting is not permitted, but please note that this meeting is being filmed on behalf of AGL for webcasting purposes. A recording of the webcast will be made available after the meeting on the AGL website. I also ask that you note where your nearest exit is in the unlikely event it becomes necessary to evacuate the building. In the event of an emergency, please follow the instructions of the venue staff. I can confirm that the necessary quorum is present here today and formally declare the meeting open. Today's meeting is being conducted as a hybrid meeting, and our shareholders have been given the opportunity to attend the meeting in person or via the online platform. Shareholders have also been given the opportunity to lodge a proxy or direct vote and ask questions in advance of the meeting.
We will address the key themes raised in my address and in the Managing Director and CEO's address. Shareholders and proxies attending using the online platform can submit written questions at any time. To ask a written question, select the Q&A icon and type your question in the text box. Once you've finished typing, please hit the Send button. To ask a verbal question through the online platform, please follow the instructions set out on that platform. Although you can submit questions from now on, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. Please also note that your questions may be moderated or, if we receive multiple questions on one topic, amalgamated together. We will give shareholders a reasonable opportunity to ask questions, but it's possible that not all questions will be answered today.
If you're attending online and are eligible to vote, once voting opens, press the Vote icon and all resolutions will be activated with voting options. Once you have voted, you will receive a vote confirmation notification on your screen. For those attending the meeting in person, once we come to question time, you can ask a question by raising your hand and a microphone attendant will come to you. Please show your attendance card and provide your name. To be eligible to speak in person today, you must hold a yellow or blue attendance card. Voting in person today will be conducted on a poll using mobile devices. If you are eligible to vote, please scan the QR code on your attendance card with your mobile device at any time once I open the voting. This will take you to an online voting page.
Once you have voted, you will receive a vote confirmation notification on your screen. If you do not have a mobile device, you may complete the voting items on the reverse side of the attendance card, and Computershare staff will collect the cards at the conclusion of the meeting. You can change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. I now declare voting open on all resolutions. I'd now like to introduce my fellow directors. They are Graham Cockroft, Christine Holman, Mark Twidell, Kerry Schott , Mark Bloom, Vanessa Sullivan, John Pollaers, and our Managing Director and CEO Damien Nicks. Seated to the left of John Pollaers is Betsy Donaghey. As outlined in the notice of meeting, the Board has recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution to appoint Betsy as a non-executive director.
The Board has invited Betsy to join us on stage today in order to speak to you about her candidacy for election to the Board. At the conclusion of the AGM, Kerry Schot t will retire from the Board. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Kerry for three years of invaluable service. I would also like to recognize Patricia McKenzie, our former Chair, who retired as a non-executive director during the year. On behalf of the Board, I thank Patricia for her significant contribution and service. Also attending this meeting today is our Company Secretary, Melinda Hunter, and Chief Financial Officer, Gary Brown, as well as other members of the executive team. AGL's external auditors, Deloitte, are also attending this meeting.
The Senior Audit Partner, Harriet Fortescue, is available to answer any relevant questions in relation to the audit that you may wish to ask later in the meeting, and I thank her for attending today. In keeping with good corporate governance, during the year, we reviewed our external audit engagement and tested the market, and we're proposing to change our external auditor to PricewaterhouseCoopers. In anticipation that shareholders approve this change, I'd like to thank Deloitte for their exemplary service for over 20 years. I'd now like to provide an outline of AGL 's performance over FY 2025 and the significance of AGL 's multi-decade strategy. Overall, we delivered a strong full-year financial result consistent with our FY 2025 earnings guidance. We reported underlying net profit after tax of AUD 640 million and underlying EBITDA of AUD 2,010,000 .
The Board declared a final FY 2025 dividend of AUD 0.25 per share, which was fully franked, resulting in a total dividend for FY 2025 of AUD 0.48 per share. As shareholders would know, AGL has set an ambitious decarbonization strategy, which includes an ambition to supply our customer demand with 12 GW of new generation and firming capacity by the end of 2035, and an interim target to have 6 GW of new renewables and firming in place by FY 2030, and we will seek to accelerate options where possible. This is a multi-decade strategy which requires year-on-year delivery and execution and ongoing investment. We first set this strategy three years ago, and since this time, we have deployed or committed over AUD 3 billion towards our decarbonization strategy. AGL's development pipeline has also tripled from 3.2 GW to 9.6 GW over the last three years.
In FY 2025 alone, we deployed approximately AUD 900 million towards battery developments and strategic investments. AGL's strategy has two key elements: to connect every customer to a sustainable future and to transition our energy portfolio. During FY 2025, we made a number of investments to deliver this strategy, including: one, the acquisition of Firm Power and Terrain Solar in September 2024. This acquisition provided access to 21 battery projects in development and six solar projects in development to provide further optionality for AGL's development pipeline. The acquisition of Everty, an EV software platform that provides charging and energy management solutions for electric vehicles, has allowed us to continue to offer innovative solutions and encourage widespread adoption of electric vehicles. The acquisition of two pumped hydro energy storage projects located in the Hunter region of New South Wales is an important addition to AGL's long-duration storage opportunities.
Completion of the acquisition of a 20% equity interest in Kaluza, who is a strategic partner in our retail transformation program, has also been achieved. Our growth and strategic investments have continued into FY 2026. AGL has acquired South Australia's Virtual Power Plant, or VPP, from Tesla. This is one of Australia's largest VPPs, comprised of distributed solar capacity and about 7,000 Powerwall home batteries. More batteries are expected to be installed this year as we look to develop Australia's largest social and community housing VPP. A final investment decision has been reached on the 500 MW, 2,000 MWh Tomago battery project. The Tomago battery project adds to AGL's existing grid-scale battery portfolio, with the 500 MW, 1,000 MWh Liddell battery on track for commencement of operations in early 2026. AGL also acquired the Yadnarie Solar and Long-Duration Energy Storage Project.
This project is based on RayGen's PV Ultra and Thermal Hydro technology, demonstrating our investment in innovative solar and storage system technology as a potential solution to the need for long-duration energy storage. In late September, AGL entered into a 15-year power purchase agreement with Tilt Renewables to offtake the electricity generation from the Palmer Wind Farm in South Australia in respect of approximately 120 MW of electricity output. This agreement adds further diversification to AGL's portfolio and supports the decarbonization of AGL's electricity supply. As part of our FY 2025 results announcement, AGL published its 2025 Climate Transition Action Plan, or CTAP, which is being voted on today. Our 2025 CTAP builds on the decarbonization ambitions set out in our inaugural 2022 CTAP.
For example, we've increased our target for new renewable and firming capacity to 6 GW by FY 2030, up from 5 GW by 2030, and added a new target to deliver 3 GW of grid-scale batteries by FY 2030. We've bolstered our interim Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets, prioritizing direct emissions reductions. We're targeting a gross Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction by 19% from FY 2027 to FY 2034, 52% by FY 2035, and 90% following the closure of our coal-fired power stations, each against an FY 2019 baseline. In line with our ambition to be net zero for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by 2050, we've set a new ambition to reduce our Scope 3 emissions by 60% following coal-fired power station closures, again against an FY 2019 baseline. We've outlined the actions we're undertaking to help our customers electrify and decarbonize.
We're also investing in a responsible energy transition for our people, our communities, and our customers, and our CTAP sets out our principles for supporting each of these groups. We've also included a "What We Stand For" section on our policy advocacy priorities, outlining the action and regulatory certainty needed to allow AGL and the broader energy industry to navigate a clearer and accelerated decarbonization pathway. Supporting our customers through the energy transition is also paramount. During FY 2025, we focused on helping our customers decarbonize the way they live, move, and work, while also supporting many customers facing cost-of-living pressures. During FY 2025, we delivered our two-year, AUD 90 million customer support package to customers that needed it most, which included AUD 76 million in direct financial support, including debt relief and payment matching.
We've now embedded the customer support program into our everyday operations, including upgrading digital resources to improve accessibility and streamline support for customers in need. We continue to offer innovative products and services to drive the electrification of homes and businesses. These products and services include rooftop solar to approximately 650,000 solar customers, our demand response peak energy rewards program, electric vehicle charging and orchestration. We currently have approximately 32,000 customers on electric vehicle plans, and our VPP, which will play an important role in providing flexibility and helping to balance grid stability. We have partnered with fintech lender Plenti Group Ltd to offer eligible customers discounted finance rates for residential solar batteries with support from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. We've also expanded our free digital advisory tool, Electrify Now.
This tool leverages energy usage data to deliver a personalized electrification savings report for customers, with estimated energy bill and carbon savings for products like solar, batteries, and electric appliances. We've had over half a million visits to Electrify Now since May 2024. Our retail transformation program is also underway to deliver more seamless, customer-focused experiences. Phase one of the program, which involved the implementation of Salesforce, has been successfully delivered to enhance customer and agent experience. I'd now like to discuss the Board's focus on safety and broader ESG considerations. Following a disappointing year in FY 2024, we were pleased that AGL's safety performance improved significantly in FY 2025 due to a targeted program of initiatives to reinforce a culture of shared responsibility and continuous improvement across our operations. These initiatives included training, strengthened governance, and enhanced risk visibility.
During FY 2025, AGL has continued to embrace ESG by thinking about the responsibilities we have to our people, our customers, investors, communities, and the environment in which we operate. Some examples of where we have provided support include completion of the subsurface decommissioning of all 144 wells at the Camden Gas Project and the rehabilitation of the Rosalind Park Gas Plant, purchasing AUD 13.27 million worth of goods and services from First Nations-owned businesses, a 123% increase on last year's First Nations spend, and an achievement of 337% of our two-year reconciliation action plan target, and investing AUD 6 million in the communities in which we operate through a structured program of community investment, including the provision of EV subscriptions and charging units for Oz Harvest and for the Gunaikurnai Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation.
Finally, I want to take a moment to address some of the feedback I've heard in recent weeks regarding AGL's share price performance. Since our FY 2025 results announcement, AGL's share price has reduced by approximately 10%. We understand that AGL's FY 2026 guidance and outlook commentary has been a key factor in the share price movement. AGL's FY 2026 guidance, which Damien will touch on shortly, reflects the significant ongoing investment AGL is making to deliver its long-term strategy. This ongoing investment is expected to result in increased levels of depreciation and amortization over the medium term, which will impact the level of underlying net profit after tax in future years. Therefore, underlying EBITDA and operating free cash flow will become increasingly relevant measures of AGL's future performance.
We will continue to focus on the delivery of our strategy in the year ahead, and we're optimistic that this ongoing delivery will create long-term value for our shareholders through our leading flexible asset base, our brand, and our customer portfolio. It's now my pleasure to invite Damien Nicks, your Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, to address you. Following Damien's address, we will move to the formal business of the meeting. Thank you, Damien.
Good morning. I'm Damien Nicks, AGL's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. I'd like to welcome those joining us online today and for those joining us in Sydney. It's great to be here together on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation for our annual general meeting. I'm pleased to be addressing you today to provide an update on a successful year for AGL, in which we delivered strong financial and operational performance and demonstrated continued progress against our strategy. I'll talk further about some of the highlights of FY 202025 shortly, but firstly, I'd like to take some time to reflect on the year from a safety, people, financial, and an operational performance. Starting first with safety. This year, our total injury frequency rate, or TIFA, was 2.0 per million hours worked, down from 3.5 in FY 2024.
I'm really pleased with this significant improvement, which was due to the relentless focus of our people on preventing injuries across our organization, which included numerous safety awareness campaigns and targeted workshops. We continue to strive to further improve our safety performance. From a people perspective, we continue to see positive engagement and momentum across the business. Our employee engagement score increased by a further percentage point to 73% during FY 2025. We also experienced strong results in terms of customer numbers and customer satisfaction. Total customer services increased to 4.6 million. Our strategic net promoter score, or NPS, improved to plus eight, and our customer satisfaction increased to 81.6%. From an operational perspective, we were disappointed by the reduction in our fleet equivalent availability factor, or EAF, of 79.1%, which was 6.7 percentage points lower than FY 2024.
This was mainly due to the thermal fleet with an additional major plant outage compared to the prior year, coupled with unplanned downtime in the second half. However, we achieved strong financial performance during FY 2025 in line with our FY 2025 guidance, despite the reduced fleet availability. Our FY 2025 financial results demonstrate the flexibility and breadth of AGL's portfolio, including the strong earnings from our growing battery portfolio. AGL's flexible asset fleet capacity has grown to 8.3 GW, which has spread across a diverse range of asset types and continues to deliver increasing portfolio benefits to AGL. This means that in periods of planned and forced outages across AGL's coal-fired fleet, AGL has significant flexibility across its hydro operations, its gas peakers, and batteries to manage market demand and generate value. We also continue to execute on the transition of our generation portfolio.
Our development pipeline of 9.6 GW has tripled in size over the last three years. I also wanted to provide an update on our gas-fired Torrens Island B power station. AGL flagged as part of our 2025 CTAP that we're in discussions with the South Australian Government regarding the request to extend the closure date by two years. I confirmed that a legally binding agreement with the South Australian Government has now been executed, and this power station is now scheduled to close by 30th of June , 2028. Now turning to our financial results. As Miles previously mentioned, underlying net profit after tax in FY 2025 was AUD 640 million, and underlying EBITDA was AUD 2.01 billion, in line with our FY 2025 guidance.
We've advised for a number of years that AGL regards underlying profit as the more useful measure of our performance because it excludes significant items and mark-to-market impact of fair value movements. We provided guidance for our FY 2026 underlying earnings as part of the FY 2025 results, which I'm pleased to confirm has remained unchanged and is as follows: FY 2026 underlying EBITDA between AUD 1.92 and AUD 2.22 billion. FY 2026 underlying net profit after tax between AUD 500 million and AUD 700 million. In addition to strong financial and operational performance during FY 2025, I'm proud of the significant progress we've made in delivering our strategy to deliver long-term value for our shareholders. Now, I'd like to discuss AGL's overall strategy, which is summarized on the following slide.
As shareholders know, our strategy is to connect our customers to a sustainable future, helping them to decarbonize the way they live, move, and work, as well as transition our energy portfolio, which includes our ambition to add 12 GW of new generation and firming by the end of 2035, and to seek options to accelerate our decarbonization pathway where possible. Our strategy is supported by our foundational pillars to embrace ESG, ensure a future fit people and culture, and to place technology at the core. Our overall strategy is designed to deliver long-term value for shareholders through the energy transition. As Miles noted, ours is a multi-decade strategy, which requires year-on-year delivery and execution and ongoing investment to generate long-term value. I'm proud of what AGL delivered in FY 2025, which included the deployment of approximately AUD 900 million towards battery developments and strategic investments.
This included the acquisition of Firm Power and Terrain Solar in September 2024, the acquisition of two pumped hydro energy storage projects located in the Hunter region of New South Wales, and the completion of the acquisition of a 20% equity interest in Kaluza. I'll now highlight a few examples demonstrating how AGL's team has executed and delivered this strategy over the last 12 months. AGL is Australia's leading energy brand, and we are focused on helping our customers decarbonize the way they live, move, and work. In July 2025, we announced the acquisition of Tesla's SA VPP , one of Australia's largest VPPs, which was first established in 2018 with the support of the South Australian Government and ARENA. The SA VPP is a network of solar and home battery systems installed on South Australian social and community housing.
The solar and the battery systems are now owned by AGL, with customers who are part of this program receiving significantly discounted energy prices. The solar and battery assets will be coordinated to work together and also used to help stabilize the electricity grid where required. Now, AGL is exploring ways to expand the benefits of this innovative model to more energy users, including social housing residents across Australia. Today, AGL's 250 MW Torrens Island battery and the 50 MW Broken Hill battery are in operation. We also have a number of virtual or physical offtakes as part of our broader battery portfolio. Our battery portfolio continues to deliver very strong performance. In FY 2025, our total EBITDA contribution for operational batteries was AUD 45 million.
We're also making excellent progress with our grid-scale battery investments, with a final investment decision, or FID, reached on the 500 MW Tomago battery in July, and we have a clear pathway to FID for an additional 900 MW of grid-scale battery projects. The Liddell battery project also remains on track for the commencement of operations in early 2026. We're targeting at least 3 GW of grid-scale batteries by 2030, and we aim to more than offset any earnings impact of coal and gas recontracting with earnings from this significant investment in flexible assets and the broader delivery of our strategy. The energy transition will involve significant changes in the way AGL operates, and the labor and the skills required will change over time. Therefore, we recognize the importance of attracting, developing, and retaining the right people to enable us to deliver value to our customers and stakeholders.
With these two facts in mind, we've recently introduced a new strategic leadership framework designed to guide leadership development and capabilities across AGL, including in important areas like AI to allow our people to be as efficient as possible. We're committed to a respectful and responsible workforce transition for our employees and the communities impacted by the assets in transition and the repurposing of our sites. Our People Transition Hub opened at Torrens Island in February 2025, which is a dedicated on-site career center, and our People Transition journey has commenced at the Bayswater Power Station in Hunter Valley , which is scheduled to close by the end of 2033. I would like to thank all of our people for their amazing contribution over FY 2025, including their passion for the success of AGL and their support for our customers.
We're continuing to invest in technology transformation and AI to better meet the evolving needs of our customers and enrich their experience as well to drive productivity across AGL. For example, we're leveraging call driver analytics to gain deeper insights into how our customers interact with our services, enabling us to tailor and improve their journey. These insights have driven improvements across our digital channels, from streamlining direct debit and payment processes to expanding the capabilities of our virtual assistants and empowering customers to self-serve with greater ease. This has been reflected in the growth of our digital-only customers to 59%. During FY 2025, we also continued to progress our retail transformation program, which focuses on enhancing customer and agent experiences, reducing operational costs, and improving speed to market for new products. This program is crucial to accelerating AGL's strategic focus to connect every customer to a sustainable future.
The next phase of the retail transformation program involves harnessing the power of Kaluza's flexible technology platform to unlock value for customers in a decentralized energy landscape. AGL has a 20% equity interest in Kaluza and is poised to benefit from this innovative platform. Therefore, AGL was pleased that Kaluza announced last week a global licensing arrangement with ENGIE, a leading energy business with over 20 million customer accounts globally. We're also focused on improving the experience of our business customers through our digital platform. In FY 2025, we enhanced our commercial solar monitoring and management solution, which now supports 309 MW of business customer solar assets, supporting our team and our business customers in monitoring and maximizing the performance of installed assets. To highlight our work on embracing ESG, I'll now play a short video outlining our progress to decarbonize our portfolio.
At AGL, we are well-positioned to respond to the evolving pace of Australia's energy transition. We are undertaking a multi-decade decarbonization of our business to deliver long-term value for our shareholders, our customers, and the community. Decarbonization is at the heart of our strategy, a strategy that is focused on responsibly retiring our coal assets, expanding our renewable and firming portfolio, and supporting customers to decarbonize the way they live, move, and work. We have made strong progress. As we expand our renewable and firming portfolio, we're on track to add 6 GW of new renewable and firming capacity by FY 2030 and 12 GW by 2035, and seek to accelerate where possible. Since FY 2022, we've added over 1,000 MW of new renewable and firming capacity, and we have tripled our development pipeline to 9.6 GW.
Our safe and respectful closure of Liddell Power Station in April 2023 marked the commencement of our exit from coal-fired power generation. We remain committed to the targeted closure dates for our coal-fired power stations, with Bayswater Power Station set to close in 2033 and Loy Yang A Power Station in FY 2035. We've set a target to be net zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions following the closure of our coal-fired power stations. We've set targets to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions. In FY 2025, we exceeded our emissions reduction target. We've charted a pathway for our ambition to be net zero for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by 2050 and set an interim ambition.
We're investing to support customers to transition away from natural gas, helping customers unlock the benefits of their solar, batteries, and flexible loads, supporting our customers to make the switch to EVs, and delivering innovative products and services like our award-winning Electrify Now. We have set clear principles to guide transparent engagement and meaningful support for our workforce, customers, and communities as we navigate the transformation of Australia's energy system together, and we're empowering our customers to participate in the energy transition, sharing the benefits, including with those who cannot purchase solar and batteries or who may be locked out due to barriers relating to home ownership. We're clear on the policy and regulatory settings needed to drive Australia's energy transition, and we're committed to working transparently with all our stakeholders to shape them. Sustaining strong and economy-wide national ambition is more important than ever.
AGL is cementing our position as a responsible leader of Australia's energy transition, and together we can shape a more sustainable future. Visit the AGL website to find out more.
As shareholders may know, we have set strategic targets for FY 2027 to allow shareholders to track our performance against our strategy. Set out on the slide on the screen is a summary of our progress to date. I'm proud of the strong progress we've made so far. However, as Miles and I have noted today, AGL's strategy is a long-term, multi-decade strategy, which requires significant ongoing investment and momentum to drive long-term value for our shareholders. To deliver on our strategy and our decarbonization ambitions, AGL requires a stable government policy environment, access to capital, and continued stakeholder support, including from our shareholders. We'll continue to focus on the delivery of our strategy in the year ahead, and we are optimistic that this ongoing delivery will create long-term value through our leading flexible asset base, our brand, and our customer portfolio.
In summary, we are getting on with a significant transformation ahead of us, and I look forward to another strong year of delivery and execution in FY 2026. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Damien. It's now time to address the formal business of the meeting. The notice of meeting sets out six items of business. Resolutions in relation to items 2 to 6 will be voted on today and are supported by your board. A poll will be conducted on each resolution. We'll display details of the direct and proxy voting for each item of business after the discussion on that item. Votes will be counted immediately following the closure of the meeting, and the results will be notified to the ASX before the end of today and posted on the company's website. Turning now to the first item of business. AGL published its 2025 annual report in August, which contains full information about the company's financial and operating performance during FY 2025.
Under the company's Constitution and Corporations Act, there is no requirement to ask shareholders to vote to adopt the accounts. However, you may ask questions or make comments on the 2025 annual report and the management and performance of AGL. As I mentioned earlier, Harriet Fortescue from Deloitte is available to answer questions relevant to the audit. I would now like to invite questions on the 2025 annual report and the management and performance of AGL. I will first take questions from the floor of the meeting and then written questions from the online platform, and then verbal questions from online. When I call for questions from the floor of the meeting, I ask that you please announce your name and, if relevant, the name of the organization you represent.
For shareholders asking questions via the online platform, please submit your questions now if you have not already done so, or please follow the instructions to join the queue to ask a verbal question. I'll now open the meeting for discussions. We will now invite questions from the floor. If anyone holding a yellow or blue card has a question, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Natasha Lee, shareholder. As far as the report's concerned, there was some grey text in the report, which was a little bit difficult to read, so I just want you to take a note of that. As far as your overall results, they were good but not great. I think it was a mixed bag. You've addressed the issue about the share price and all the relevant inputs relating to that, although I'd note that Morgan Stanley is favoring Origin over AGL, so that's one issue. As far as the underlying profits, there were a number of significant items that were due to lower forecast electricity and renewable energy certificate pricing. What was the reason for the lower forecasting? From that, were there any particular learnings which you can advise us so that similar events like this can be avoided or mitigated in the future?
Thank you, Natasha, for the question. In relation to the significant items, the two key ones were onerous contracts, as you've mentioned, and the retail transformation costs. In relation to onerous contracts, the amount was AUD 398 million. Onerous contracts provision refers to contracts that were written some time ago, in some cases up to 10 years ago, for wind projects in particular, but some other ones as well. At the time that those contracts were written, they were written at prices that now appear high, and there needs to be provision made for those contracts now that prices have changed in that period from 10 years ago or five years ago to now. That's what that relates to. It is a large swing factor item, often in our accounts, not just this year.
It's often a large item reflecting, as I say, movements associated with contracts written a long time ago. Contracts written from now on will be written, of course, at the current market price. In 10 years' time, we might find that those have changed too. It's just the way that we reflect contract prices.
Okay, thanks. Now, your borrowings have increased, and I understand the reason for the greater investments. What is the gearing range the board is looking towards, working towards? I take it from your comment that the level of debt is probably not going to decrease in the future given the ongoing investment, but you can confirm whether that's correct or not.
Thank you for that question. The level of gearing currently is about 37%. Our strategy is to, firstly, maintain our investment-grade credit rating of BAA2 and also to remain well within our debt covenants. Those are the things that we look at when we're considering our gearing. Now, sorry, what I propose to do is to limit to two questions per person just because we have limited time.
No, I understand that. I asked for the range, so there's the 37% at the top of the rank or?
No, we actually have headroom to go higher within our existing debt facilities if we wanted to. We review our capital allocation strategy regularly, and that includes consideration of the appropriate level of gearing at any one time, considering our current and future CapEx plans.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. Yes?
Thank you, Chair. It's Julieanne Mills from the Australian Shareholders' Association here representing 254 shareholders and a million shares. My question today is just about, first of all, we appreciate the efforts that you're making to decarbonize and your comments around the long-term, and that multi-decade actions that you will need to take. We wanted to ask you the question around the new 2035 targets the government has set and whether that will impact AGL in any way from a positive point of view or from a negative point of view as far as risks and opportunities.
Thanks, Juliane. Look, AGL welcomes government initiatives that have the effect of bringing forward investment in the renewables and firming capacity that we need in order to be able to retire our coal-fired power stations on the schedule that we've provided. That commitment is a positive from AGL's perspective in the sense that it will help to do that.
Can I just ask, will you commit to some targets that relate directly to those targets?
Our targets that we've set out really relate more to the amount of capacity that we intend to add. We have several targets for 2035. For 2030, we've also introduced some new targets like the 3 GW of batteries by FY 2030, and we've increased our 2030 ambition from 5 GW to 6 GW. They're the things that we've done. Of course, where we can, and we've said this in many places, we will accelerate depending on how government policy unfolds and how markets evolve over that time.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Guy Wilkinson, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The CTAP lacks a detailed electrification strategy. We all know accelerating electrification in Australia is important for Australia to meet its decarbonization goals set out by this government just two weeks ago. Yet, AGL's ambition to connect every customer to a sustainable future is not backed up by tangible milestones or targets. How is AGL planning to support the electrification of households and industry, and what targets will it set to drive this transformation? Why was this not in the CTAP?
Thanks for your question, Guy. There are several elements of the answer that I'll give. In relation to electrification, one of the key things is getting existing gas customers off gas. That decision is a decision for customers. It's not one that we can control, and it will vary a lot depending on the financial and other circumstances of particular customers. Not everybody can afford to buy an induction stove, for example, right now. That process of, in particular, switching from gas to electricity is one that will depend on customer action more directly than it will depend on our action. However, what we do is we provide the tools that would enable residential customers and business customers to assess what the benefits would be of electrification. Damien mentioned the online tool that we provide. It's called Electrify Now.
If anybody here hasn't used it, I'd suggest you go and have a look. You don't have to be an AGL customer to use it. Essentially, what that does is it outlines what sort of savings you could make by switching from gas, hot water, gas appliances, gas heating, and so on to electric. That's one means that we encourage electrification. The second area I think that's relevant to comment on here is advocacy. If you look at the advocacy that Damien and AGL more generally have undertaken in relation to electrification, we have pushed for governments to adopt policies and other initiatives that will encourage people to switch from gas to electricity. That is a key part of what we can do, what we can control in terms of that rate of electrification. I think they're the key elements that I'd provide in response to your question.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Lastly, AGL's CTAP shows Scope 3 emissions from gas supply remaining almost flat for the next decade. It has no prediction on future gas demand across households, business, and industry. It has no price forecasts. Fossil gas faces challenges in the transition and will need concerted leadership and investment to tackle and help get methane gas out of homes and for there to be gas alternatives for industry. Why does AGL not provide investors with more transparency over its gas retail business in the next decade?
Thanks again for the question, Guy. I think the answer is much along the lines of the previous answer to some extent, and that is that the decision about converting from gas to electric is actually a customer decision, not ours. As I say, we provide the tools to help that, and we advocate for governments to try to bring forward initiatives that will encourage that, but we can't direct customers to switch from gas to electric. I think there needs to be increased government support for electrification in that area if we're going to achieve the sort of rapid changeover from gas to electric that organizations like yours are looking for.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Sorry, we have one down here.
Thank you. Good morning. Thank you very much for what you've outlined for the future. My question is directed, essentially, you said you've appointed a new auditor and given credit to Deloitte for 20 years of excellent service. In this change, what criteria did you apply? I ask because PwC has had repeated issues with trust, extraordinary bad behavior, and continued to do so. Why and how did you decide to go to a new auditor in favor of one who's shown repeatedly to be a very poor performer and offender? The moral trust. How do you explain that?
Thank you. Thank you for the question. Last year, we went through a long and detailed process to consider a change of auditors. We invited all of the major audit firms, including Deloitte, to submit proposals for our external audit. We considered those proposals in detail and felt that PwC provided the best options, the best service for us. We did consider the issue, I think in particular that you were referring to, which was an issue, as I understand, within the tax group at PwC some time ago. We did consider that, and we did question PwC around what governance improvements they had made following that incident. We were satisfied that the governance improvements that they had made across the business, and in particular of relevance to us in their audit practice, were acceptable in terms of improvement from that incident some time ago.
Was the turning point, was it cheaper?
No, price was one of the factors that we considered when we looked at the alternatives provided by the major audit firms, but the focus was really on providing the service that we particularly wanted. We have a complex business that requires a lot of audit skill across a range of different capacities, and we felt that PricewaterhouseCoopers provided the best proposal in relation to servicing our requirements.
I'm sorry to say that I remain unconvinced with what you're telling me because the Australian Financial Review has continued to report both sales and CMOR had contradicted information given by the legal counsel. I am inclined to think I'd be very, very concerned about the future prospects if, as you say, that Deloitte provided a pretty good service. You have to have a clear definition. Was it the cheaper offer?
I think I've answered that question. We did have multiple criteria on which we made the decision. Price was one of them, but overall it was the services.
Okay, thank you.
I appreciate your view. Thank you.
I would like to ask a question concerning the Computershare and AGL, the link between the two. Apparently, I had a bit of a problem dealing with these people here. First of all, they didn't send the proxy vote for me at all for two companies, and they didn't send the hard copy annual report. They say you can have it now. I say if you're going to have it now, I cannot read it. How are you dealing with these people? They say, oh, we can give it to you now. Excuse me, it's around probably 300 - 400 pages, the annual report. The hard copy, we didn't receive it at all. I have a problem with these people, which I didn't vote for them. I didn't vote for Computershare. I don't have shares with them. I have shares with AGL.
Why do these people handle on our behalf and mess up everything? I asked them, read it twice. They didn't say they were going to send it to you. I'm going to send an email to you. They haven't sent it. I have copies here I got now. To justify, I am the shareholder. I feel sick about that because, first of all, why is Computershare dealing with that? It's supposed to be AGL direct. I noticed some companies shifted the service to somebody else, and I had a problem. I'm going to advance more on that. I had a problem. I didn't have my dividend to pay because the company apparently notified these people, Computershare, the other thing MarketLink. What happens? They didn't pay me the dividend because they didn't know my bank account. I gave my bank account to the company, not for MarketLink or Computershare.
I have had to ask for three consecutive six months, three or more than a year, a year and a half. I didn't have dividends because they say they didn't have my bank account. I gave it to the company. When I bought the shares from the company, I would give all my details, my tax file numbers, everything there. Why is there no communication between the company and somebody else who we hired to deal on behalf of the shareholders? That becomes difficult for us too.
Thank you for the question. I'm sorry you've experienced that difficulty with the share register. In relation to the annual report, we have what we call an opt-in mechanism for the annual report. If you're a shareholder, in order to receive the annual report, you would need to opt into the annual report, and then it will be sent to you. In relation to the other issues that you've had, I'm sorry that that's happened to you in relation to the share registry. If you like, we can ask somebody to come and have a chat to you personally about that because that's your business. It's not the rest of the people.
My business is not the Computershare. I don't have nothing to deal with them. Why AGL decide to get these people to become in between and create a difficulty for the shareholders? Beyond that, I never dealt with them. I dealt with the company I invest. But yourself sells there to them. Do you know why? I know that because some companies get around 10 million shareholders. They don't want to provide the annual report, the proxy vote. You want me to print my computer cost-to-cost for me and save money for yourself this year, and they say how much money you are saving? How much costs one of those books? 300 or 400 hard copy the annual report, how much costs? I don't have a clue.
I can tell you it costs quite a lot of money there, especially the glossy paper you use to statistics and things you put in there. Why do the companies, some of the companies in Australia, and they try to avoid the shareholders to vote? It's better I don't vote at all. The Chairman of the Board, like yourself, Mr. Miles , you can vote for whatever the decision will be, if I agree or not.
I think all companies, like certainly companies of our size, now use a share registry. That's why you've had to deal with somebody other than AGL directly.
Excuse me, I don't deal with them because you will pass on to deal with any problem of the shareholders, investors dealing with these people. We are inconvenienced to have to deal with them. Like I've been asked to send the annual report. They didn't send it to me. I have to post. You know, I live in Queensland. I don't live here in New South Wales. I didn't get any report at all. Now they come here. I get a piece of paper here, which I have here. This is the only information I had. It's annual energy notice meeting. That's all I got.
I'm sorry, but because this is a general meeting and there are many people here who would like to ask questions, I'm going to have to leave it there. We will ask somebody to come and speak to you after the meeting about the problem you've had.
The other thing, the global on climate change for me, I don't want to express the word because I'm going to make somebody offended with that. I don't believe that at all. I've been starting to read the books. All this is created by government, by government. Yourselves are very keen on that. Become a [religion] in Australia, climate change.
I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to leave it there. We're going to have to move on to another question, but thank you for your question.
Hello. Oh, it's working. Thanks very much. I appreciate the detailed presentations by the Chair and CEO. Thanks for that. I was going to ask a question, but I'll leave it on the table if you like about the auditor, given that Deloitte has such a good reputation compared to the others. I'll leave that on the table. I'll move on to the second question I was going to ask. As a shareholder, I think we're just as important stakeholders as employees, and we have a commitment to integrity and transparency, which I'm sure you do. Therefore, I'm asking, personally, my first question is, do you have an ESOP that allows your staff to have an input to the strategic decisions?
Sorry, beg your pardon. Was that SAP, did you say?
ESOP. Employee Share Offering Plan.
[ESOP]? Oh, thank you. Okay.
No, you don't?
No, I just wanted to get what the acronym was.
An ESOP, Employee Share Plan, allowing employees to ask questions, obviously, on strategy. The second question relates to something still with [relation] t o the auditor, is your AI model, because I'm starting to be convinced that most senior executives have very little knowledge of the models they're using, particularly artificial neural networks, which you obviously are using, which can't be interrogated. Of course, you rely on their output, which could be based on biased input, of course. Therefore, you need well-intentioned and smart employees to be involved with that. My question is, do you and the auditors have the same models? Do you train your staff to use those effectively to challenge standard decisions? I'll leave it at that. Thanks very much.
Thank you for the question. In relation to a shared plan, yes, we do have one for staff, for all staff, in fact, can participate in that plan. As we've outlined in the annual report, there are also the LTI and STI schemes for executives. In relation to AI, AGL is a large business, and we do use AI across the business in various areas where it is used to improve productivity and, in particular, to improve the customer experience and customer-agent interaction. We do use AI, yes. In relation to audit, I'm not clear what your question is in relation to the audit of AI. Our auditors, whether it be Deloitte for FY 2025 or PwC going forward, subject to the vote here, review all areas of our business.
Right. I guess the point I'm making is that ANNs, which are regenerative AI models based on artificial neural nets, the soft learning algorithms, is the Senior Executive trained in those? I'm sure some of your staff would be, but is it the same models you're using with the auditors, at least compatible and able to talk the same machine language, if you like? That's my point. Is there some strategy? Have you thought that through?
I might ask Damien to comment on that.
Yeah, look, thanks for your question. As Miles mentioned, AGL is a large, complex organization with many models that we do run. Where there are models that do interact into any financial results or numbers, then clearly we work closely with the auditors to ensure we have alignment when they're reviewing and auditing our results. That alignment is there. In terms of your broader question, clearly, you know, getting AI right, getting the controls around an AI model is incredibly important. For us at AGL, we spend a lot of time making sure we get that right, and we'll continue to get that right because it will continue to learn, and we'll continue to learn with it as well.
Thanks for the question.
Hello, Susan Finnegan, shareholder. This may be a very simplistic question based on those that have been asked, but my concern and my question relates to the expansion of the wind farms and solar farms. What is AGL's position with regard to prime agricultural land and the removal of it for these and/or the rehabilitation of it when you remove things like the AGL, the Camden site? Thank you.
Thank you for the question. AGL takes very seriously its impact on the environment for all of our assets. In relation to wind farms, AGL has some of its own developments, which are considered in the context of potential environmental impact among other considerations. We also, as you may be aware, contract to take the output of other owners' wind farms. We review the environmental soundness of those projects. In relation to solar farms, we don't have any solar farm assets. The impact of wind farms, and this is my personal experience, not an AGL comment, is relatively minor on agricultural land, whether it's prime or not, because the turbines are spaced many hundreds of meters apart and only have a relatively small footprint. That, as I say, is my personal observation having worked in the wind industry for some years. Yes?
[Michael Straikosh]. I was wondering, with your new auditors, was the audit partner a partner when PwC managed to, how does one say, break the law? The second part of the question is totally different. I tried to change, or I thought of changing my service provider to AGL online, and the online portal did not have anything about my solar panels that have been there for a number of years, let alone the feed-in tariff, nor the use of the solar generation in or before the electricity from outside sources, which I thought was, how does one say, incompetent at best, stupid at worst, and generally stopped me changing. I thought I'd change to a company providing my electricity that I had shares in, but I was frustrated at the outset. Your comments would be nice.
Thank you for your question, Michael. Two questions, in fact. In relation to the proposal to change to PwC as an auditor, yes, I understand that the senior partner involved was a partner at PwC at the time of that incident. However, in a different area of PwC, which, as you would know, is a very large organization, audit department, quite different from tax department. The answer, the technical answer to your question is yes, he was. In relation to the issues that you've had with our online app, I'm sorry that you've experienced that problem. I don't know what the particular reason may have been in your personal circumstances, but we do have customer service representatives here today.
If you like, they can talk to you immediately after this meeting when we retire for some refreshments about that particular problem that you've had with your app and your particular circumstances, if that's okay.
In response to your initial reply about the auditor, I was wondering, it goes to the ethos of the company about breaking laws and sensibilities over confidentialities. If the partners were still there at the time, why did they need a yank to come over to check out the partners? That points to the ethos of the whole bunch of partners.
Thank you, Michael. I appreciate your comment. As I mentioned, I think in relation to an earlier question, we did undertake a very thorough review of the governance improvements that PwC has made since that time, and we're satisfied with those improved arrangements.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Roman Kuznikov, and I am a long-term shareholder, and I'm representing a number of entities, which are also long-term shareholders of this company. These entities include myself, many super funds, and my personal shareholders. I would like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and your management team for finally joining the electronic email system, and our customer can now return back forms instead of sending them by snail mail. I raised this issue at this forum, and now it was implemented. I would like to thank you. I would like to give you another challenge. Can you please organize your different departments to talk to each other and deliver on their promises to our customers? It looks like this company is making empty promises and doesn't deliver it. I can provide you more details after the meeting. Thank you.
Thank you, Roman. Thanks for noting the improved communication. In relation to the particular issues that you've had, I'd suggest, if you're happy for this, that one of our customer service representatives can talk to you after this meeting. Do we have further questions?
Thank you. Andy Smith, President of the Mining and Energy Union of Victoria. I've just got a quick preamble and a couple of small questions. It can be aimed for anyone on the board. At present, AGL's Loy Yang site supplies 30% of Victoria's energy supply. Loy Yang A power station is attached to a brown coal mine, is situated in the Latrobe Valley, and employs approximately 2,000 full-time employees and contractors. Thousands more rely on Loy Yang in their local community for trade. Loy Yang A and its brown coal mine are scheduled to shut in 2025, as per the report. The mine may operate a bit longer depending on what happens with Alinta or Loy Yang B. At present, AGL has operated in the Latrobe Valley for 13 years, profiting immensely from the region and its local workforce.
With the transition from coal-fired power underway, regions like the Latrobe Valley are once again in a firing line for economic catastrophe. We already have some very poor socioeconomic outcomes in the Latrobe Valley. A couple of questions here. The first one is, does AGL have an obligation to ensure that there are secure, well-paid jobs in large numbers to accommodate its existing Loy Yang workforce? Does AGL have an obligation to the residents of the Latrobe Valley to leave them with a positive legacy, one not dominated by the demise of coal-fired power, but one that's about economic growth and prosperity for generations to come? The answer should be yes. If you could provide a little bit of detail around that, that'd be appreciated. Thank you.
Thanks for your question, Andy. AGL already has quite significant experience with this process of transitioning thermal assets to other forms of technology. I'd point to the example of Torrens Island in South Australia, where the existing thermal power station is going to be closed in 2028 now. For some time, years in fact, we have had in place a transition plan for the workers at that particular site, personalized assistance with transition plans. In some cases, potentially moving to another location, but that doesn't suit everybody, as we know. Training, other things like that are part of the transition hub that we established for the employees at Torrens. Similarly, at Liddell, which was closed in 2023, we put in place an extensive transition program for workers who would be affected by the closure of the Liddell power station.
Some of those, the people who worked there, decided to retire because they were at that age and decided that's what they would do. Others decided to retrain, and a substantial number of them were redeployed by AGL to the Bayswater power station, which is not far away, as you're probably aware. We do have experience and can point to a very serious commitment to our existing employees to be able to assist workers through the transition of our assets. Loy Yang A, as you say, is still 10 years away, but I would expect that we will be adopting very similar programs for workers at Loy Yang A as we get closer to that time.
Thank you. [Mick Robel], Mining and Energy Union delegate at Bayswater power station. I'd just like to ask, we saw an increase in unplanned outages across AGL's thermal generation fleet in this financial year. By the time Bayswater and Loy Yang are looking to close, I'll be about 50 years old. Workers are concerned that their health and safety is getting put at risk while power station owners sweat assets that are moving to closure rather than investing in essential maintenance. Will AGL listen to workers' concerns about safety and commit to investing in the maintenance of their thermal generation assets all the way through to the final day of operation?
I'll ask Damien to answer that question.
Thanks, Mick, and thanks for your question. Absolutely. Today, we continue to invest about AUD 500 million per annum on both of those power stations, both Loy Yang and Bayswater, and we will continue to do that to make sure we can operate those plants as effectively and reliably as we possibly can. Acknowledging, as you said, these power stations are 40 years of age, so over time, the reliability is more challenging, but we will continue to invest in them. The investment programs will run all the way up to the major outage cycles, which we're doing right now. I think you'd be aware, we're doing a Bayswater major outage right now. Circa 110 days, well over AUD 100 million is what we're spending on that unit alone. That will take that asset out for a long period of time.
We will continue to do that, and we'll also continue to work on the flexibility of those assets because the flexibility of the assets in this market with renewables is incredibly important as well. Thank you.
We have online questions as well, so I'll take one more question from the floor before we move to online.
Thank you, Chair. Matthew Howard, Mining and Energy Union Northern District's Vice President, based in the Hunter Valley. The federal government's new Net Zero Economy Authority provides a framework for transition support to be delivered to workers at closing power stations. This framework could lead to AGL facing obligations to provide certain transition support to workers, including retraining, career guidance, and access to redeployment opportunities. Will AGL commit to working cooperatively with the Net Zero Economy Authority as Bayswater and Loy Yang A move towards closure, or does it intend to try and exempt itself from these important obligations?
Thanks for your question. The answer is yes. No, you're absolutely right. We are now working with the Net Zero Authority, and we'll continue to do that, of course. Okay, James, could you please let me know if there are any online questions, written or verbal, relevant to this item?
Yes, Chair, we have four online questions and no one on the phone line. We have three questions from Mr. Stephen Main. The first question is, what process did we run to select Miles George as our next Chair? Was a headhunting firm involved, and did we interview any external candidates? Were there multiple internal candidates competing for the position with a formal pitch and vote, or was Miles the obvious standout internal candidate supported by consensus? Could Miles also please comment on the biggest changes in board process, delegations, reporting lines, or governance that he has implemented since taking over as Chair in February this year? Could CEO Damien Nicks also comment as to whether Miles is more or less hands-on than Patricia McKenzie as a Chair?
Thank you for the questions. As you would be aware, the Chair of the Board is selected by the directors, and the answer to your question is that my candidacy as Chair was unanimously supported by the Board. In terms of changes, there have been no material changes in strategy since I took over as Chair in February of this year. I think the change, though, that I would observe over the last year or so has been the shift from building optionality in our development pipeline to delivery. The focus of our business, in particular in the last year, has been on delivering those assets that we've built up over the last couple of years into our development pipeline. Now you're seeing, in particular, the battery projects that we've commented on in the presentations now coming forward. That's been probably the change that I would observe.
James, do we have another question?
The next question from Mr. Stephen Main. Could outgoing Deloitte signing partner Harriet Fortescue please comment on what involvement she and her team had in terms of the public reporting in the remuneration report of the AUD 720,000 medical settlement with former Chair Patricia McKenzie and the appropriateness of the size of the payment? Was Deloitte consulted on the implications of the settlement, which caused overall payments to non-executive directors to reach AUD 3.3 million in 2024-2025, exceeding the shareholder-approved fee cap of AUD 2.75 million? Also, could Harriet please comment on how Deloitte felt the competitive tender for the audit contract was conducted? How was the timing handled in order to avoid any impact on the regular auditing process?
Thank you for the question, Stephen. In 2023, Patricia McKenzie was seriously injured at an AGL site. That injury required multiple surgeries. AGL engaged independent expert advice to determine a compensation arrangement for Patricia McKenzie, which would be no worse and no better than if any other employee at AGL had been in a similar situation. The determined compensation of AUD 720,000, which is set out in our annual report, plus additional Medicare fees of approximately AUD 11,000, is a full and final settlement of the injuries and costs that Patricia sustained in the past and for any future costs. In relation to the audit process, that process was conducted by the board. I think I mentioned previously that Deloitte was invited to participate in that process. It's not appropriate for them to comment on that process as a participant in it.
As I mentioned before, PwC was chosen for providing the best overall proposal on a range of criteria that included the services provided and the cost. Do we have another question, James, from Mr. Main?
The next question from Mr. Main. Thank you to Kerry Schott for her three years of service on the board, but why is she not seeking a second term? It is always helpful for investors to have access to some exit perspectives from retiring independent directors. In her final contribution as an AGL director, could Kerry please comment on what she regards as the two best decisions AGL made during her time on the board, and would she do anything differently if she had her time again?
Thank you for the question, Stephen. Yes, applause is appropriate for Kerry. Kerry has made a fantastic contribution to this board over the three years that she has served on the board. Kerry has made a personal decision to retire from this board, having been on it, as I said, for approximately three years. Some of you may be aware that Kerry has a number of other commitments in various other roles. It is a personal decision of Kerry's to retire. We think Kerry has made a fabulous contribution to the board, and we wish her all the best for the future. Kerry, did you want to add anything?
Thank you for your compliments, Stephen. They're quite unexpected. I've enjoyed my time on the board, and I'm leaving it in good hands. Thank you.
Thanks, James. Are there any further questions online?
There's one final question online from Mr. Robert Pillat. Could you please explain the strategy behind offering Netflix subscriptions? Thank you.
Thank you for the question, Robert. We have found that offering Netflix subscriptions has a specific benefit that it does attract electricity and gas customers as well, who tend to be quite sticky. The offer that AGL makes in relation to Netflix customers has been very successful. I think we might move on. We've answered questions from the floor and online. The second item of business concerns the adoption of the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2025. The People and Performance Committee assists the Board with oversight of AGL's remuneration policies. Graham Cockroft is the Chair of that committee. Before inviting questions on the remuneration report, I would like to invite Graham to speak to you about AGL's remuneration policy during FY 2025.
Thank you very much, Miles, and good morning, everyone. My name is Graham Cockroft and I am Chair of AGL's People and Performance Committee. This morning, I will give an overview of the key remuneration decisions made by the board during the 2025 financial year, as set out in AGL's FY 2025 remuneration report. As Miles and Damien outlined earlier, FY 2025 was a year of solid operational and financial performance for AGL, with demonstrable progress against AGL's long-term strategy to transition our energy portfolio and connect every customer to a sustainable future. This year, all major proxy advisors recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the FY 2025 remuneration report, and no material concerns were raised. I will now summarize the FY 2025 remuneration outcomes for executives. In addition to fixed remuneration, the AGL board measures executives' performance through a variety of short-term and long-term performance metrics.
During FY 2025, AGL's key management personnel received fixed remuneration increases between 2.1% and 11.8%, reflective of market benchmarks. For AGL's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Damien Nicks, and AGL's Chief Financial Officer, Gary Brown, this was their first fixed remuneration increase since their permanent appointments in January 2023. The short-term incentive, or STI, outcomes for executives are measured against scorecards containing group and individual strategic objectives, which are established at the commencement of the financial year and comprise financial and non-financial measures. The non-financial measures in the group scorecard relate to safety, customer, and people metrics. Overall, the group scorecard outcome was 71.6% of the maximum opportunity for the MD and CEO and 74.6% for other executives, highlighting solid performance across most metrics. Overall STI awards for FY 2025 were in the range of 68.1% to 84.9% of the maximum opportunity.
When considering the STI outcomes for executives, the board took into account the scorecard results, the experience of shareholders over the period, the strong performance in delivering AGL strategy, and the significant efforts to enhance customer experience. The board was particularly pleased with the improvement in AGL safety performance. Management received a zero outcome for safety last year, and this year AGL's total injury frequency rate was 2.0, down from 3.5 in FY 2024. This improvement was achieved through a targeted program of initiatives to reinforce a culture of shared responsibility and continuous improvement across our operations. I'll now move to AGL's long-term incentive, or LTI plan, which is designed to align executive reward with long-term AGL performance and shareholder experience.
The performance conditions for the FY 2022 LTI grant were tested, with an overall vesting outcome of 64.6%, reflecting the ongoing improvement in AGL's share price after a number of years of [in vesting] until FY 2024. The relative total shareholder return hurdle was met, achieving performance at the 59th percentile against S&P ASX 100 companies. The carbon transition metrics were broadly met with an increase in AGL's renewable fleet and, in turn, the proportion of green revenue derived from renewable assets. On non-executive director fees, there were no increases during FY 2025. The last fee change was in January 2020. Looking ahead to FY 2026, we are not proposing any material changes to the remuneration structure at this point. The STI plan will remain unchanged. The individual objectives of executives have now been set for FY 2026, and they are focused on continued delivery of AGL strategy.
For the FY 2026 LTI plan, the board has decided to continue with the total shareholder return metric and two carbon transition metrics, with the overall weighting of the carbon transition metrics remaining unchanged at 30%. The carbon transition metric related to new renewable and firming capacity in AGL's energy portfolio has increased to 20% as the board believes it is important for management to continue to focus on delivery of the energy portfolio transition, which will ultimately drive AGL's decarbonization strategy. The metric related to emissions intensity remains unchanged at 10%. The board believes that the FY 2025 remuneration outcomes for AGL executives reflect AGL's strong performance during FY 2025, while maintaining AGL's ability to attract and retain talented executive capability throughout the energy transition.
The board, assisted by the People and Performance Committee, will continue to review and monitor the remuneration structures and performance metrics for executives to ensure alignment with shareholder experience and incentivize delivery of AGL strategy. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Thank you.
Thanks, Graham. Now let's turn to questions on item two, the 2025 remuneration report. We'll start with questions from shareholders and proxies in the room today. If anyone holding a blue or yellow card has a question, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Natasha Lee, shareholder. As far as my reading of the remuneration report, it seems that on the financials you were a little bit generous, but there seemed to be a fail on the employee engagement and inclusion index, if that's correct. Can you explain that and what steps have been taken to improve that performance?
Thank you for the question, Graham. Would you like to answer that?
Thank you, Natasha. Sorry, you're asking about?
The employee engagement and inclusion.
There is an awful lot, I think Damien highlighted in his discussion earlier, his presentation about the work that's going on to ensure that we have the right people in the organization and that we keep them well motivated. That's part of clearly what the remuneration is about. More broadly, we run a survey every year, an engagement survey to understand how people are feeling about the organization. That covers a range of areas. The results of that are collected, and then each manager who is responsible for leadership within the company is given the results of their team, and they can then take actions within their team to improve engagement.
Yeah, that's engagement. What about inclusion? I take that as sort of a CEI.
It is. It is. That's one of the questions within the engagement survey. We look at diversity and inclusion. Again, that's all part of that same process that's fed back through.
Right. Okay, thanks.
Do we have other questions from the floor?
Thank you, [Kaj here] again. Artificial intelligence is repeatedly mentioned that AGL is using it extensively. What I'd like to know, do you have an ongoing program to develop the capacities of the board and Mr. Nicks in particular, whether this has allowed them to keep up to date with its use, and is there any critical use or faculty evaluation by individuals of what artificial intelligence is doing, preparing reports, decision-making, etc., etc.? Because as we are told, it's going to save the world, it's going to decarbonize, it's going to change everything and reduce human oversight. I ask this particularly given that Deloitte was reported to have produced and cost the taxpayer about AUD 0.5 million, produced a report which was of plenty of suspect quotations and figures and God knows what else.
What I'm asking is, is there an ongoing educational program for staff, including Mr. Nicks and the board? How well equipped are they to deal with these issues and to make sure that artificial intelligence doesn't take over the critical decision-making capacities and is in accord with what our strategic goals are?
Thank you for the question. I might ask Damien to answer that question.
Thank you, and thank you for the question. Absolutely. We are running a range of education programs for all of our people, including the Executive, including the Board as well. The way I think you need to think about AI, it's something you need to continue to grow and learn with. It will continue to evolve. I'll give you an example where we see real benefit. We use AI and models right now for batteries, whereby we're trading batteries. There's so much data that is coming in there that you need technologies like this to be able to do that. AI plays a vital role, but at the same time, we'll still have traders there overlooking, making sure the right decisions are being made.
No, I mean, I think that is particularly important that some humans are overseeing this operation because otherwise it gets away and nobody knows. As I mentioned, the Deloitte report costing the taxpayer about AUD 0.5 million was full of falsities and inaccurate quotations and figures, etc., etc. Thank you.
Thank you for the question. Are there any more questions from the floor? We have one over here.
Yes, thanks. Stuart Roger, a shareholder. Chairman, you gave a good, thorough answer to Stephen Main's question about how the compensation for the previous Chair was calculated, but you did totally ignore his question about how it's okay as a result that the total money paid to directors exceeds what's been authorized. I think for the record, you should answer that question too.
Yes, thank you for that question, Stuart. The payment that was made to Patricia was not a director fee. It was compensation for an injury. That is why it is not appropriate to add that amount to the fees that were paid to directors and argue that it's more than the fee pool. It was not fees. It's compensation for a serious injury, as I mentioned previously. Are there any more questions from the floor? We might move to online. We've got one more. I'll take one more at the back there.
My name is Antonette Grant, and I thank the board for finally having an AGM in Sydney because I have no social media, and I usually don't participate in meetings elsewhere. All I wanted to say is that I'm still happy with AGL. I'm an ex-employee, and I have a number of shares. I just wanted to continue my tradition of objecting to the remuneration report because I object in principle to all these reports because they are for the beneficiaries only and no use and no interest for the actual shareholders. I am happy that I have AGL shares, and I'll keep them. I hope that you're keeping more AGMs in Sydney instead of Melbourne. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Antonette. What we actually do, because we have shareholders in many cities, is we actually alternate between Melbourne and Sydney. Next year you'll be in Melbourne, the year after we're back in Sydney. Thank you for your question and observations. We might move to the online questions. James, do we have any online written or verbal questions relevant for this item?
Yes, Chair, we have two online questions and no one on the phone. The first online question comes from Mr. Stephen Main. According to the AFR, former Chair Patricia McKenzie suffered an injury on a site tour in August 2023. At what site did this occur, and who gave the legal advice that it was okay to make the AUD 720,000 settlement payment in January this year, even though it caused director remuneration payments to exceed the cap approved by shareholders in the 2024-2025 financial year? Did the payment include covering legal expenses incurred by the former Chair in achieving this settlement, and did this issue lead to the change of Chair in February this year?
Thank you for the question, Stephen. The details of the injury that Patricia sustained are personal for Patricia, and so I won't be disclosing any of the details of the actual injury, where it occurred, how it occurred, or anything else. That's Patricia's business. We did, as I mentioned in a previous answer, obtain expert independent advice, and this is set out in our annual report as to the details. We did obtain independent expert legal advice and other advice in relation to the appropriate compensation payment. I'm not proposing to identify who the consultants we used were. In relation to your comment about director fees, the director fee pool was not exceeded. The payment that was made to Patricia was not in the nature of director fees. It was compensation for a serious injury, as I mentioned previously. Do we have another question, James?
The final online question is from Australasian Responsibility. The LTI carbon transition metric relating to emissions intensity of electricity supplied is a weak and poorly designed metric. It is not linked well to the targets outlined in the CTAP. Furthermore, its 0% vesting since its introduction suggests it has not been incentivizing changes effectively either. The changed weighting for this year suggests the committee does not see value in adjusting the remuneration around the CTAP. What is AGL's justification for this decision? What alternative carbon metrics has the committee considered to replace this inadequate metric with something that more effectively drives the targets in the CTAP?
Thank you for the question. The emissions intensity metric does directly drive emissions reductions. We consider that it's appropriate that it be emissions intensity and not absolute emissions reductions because if, for example, there was unplanned downtime or for whatever reason the plants didn't work well, that would actually reduce emissions but would not be a good outcome for supplying reliable electricity or for our shareholders. The other metric that's included for the LTI in carbon transition that's now included is the measure for new renewable generation and storage capacity that's to be built. We believe that is a very strong metric for encouraging the build-out of the assets that are required to replace our coal-fired power stations when they close.
You may have seen that we have doubled the weighting given to that metric to 20% from this year and removed the third metric that we previously had, the green revenue metric, which was in the view of our staff but also of shareholders, difficult to measure. We believe that the remaining measures, the emissions intensity at 10% and the build-out of new renewable and storage capacity at 20%, remain appropriate. Thank you. I think we might now move on. Details of the proxy and direct votes that have been cast on this item are shown on the screen. Please place your vote for this item now if you have not already done so. I now turn to the third item of business, which is the advisory resolution on the 2025 Climate Transition Action Plan. I'll now invite questions on this item.
Let's start with questions from shareholders and proxies in the room today. Again, if anyone holding a yellow or blue card has a question, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you. We don't have any questions from the floor. James, do we have any online questions?
Yes, Chair, we have five online questions and no questions on the phone. The first online question comes from Ms. Ainsley Hunter. How will AGL proactively advocate across the country for its policy positions, such as no new residential gas connections and the acceleration of electrification and consumer energy resources? Can AGL update investors more frequently about its advocacy efforts and its efforts to improve industry associations, such as the Business Council of Australia, whose advocacy for offsets, use, and expansion of gas production isn't aligned with AGL or climate science?
Thank you, Ms. Hunt, for that question. AGL does advocate strongly for electrification. Taking on board your comment about updating our advices in relation to that advocacy, yes, we continue to provide updates about the advocacy that we undertake, both directly and also through industry associations. You may be aware that Damien is the Chair of the Australian Energy Council. We believe that advocacy is one of the key levers that we do have to pull. I mentioned in relation to an earlier question that some things that are required for the energy transition, we don't have direct control over. In those cases, we use advocacy at all levels of government to achieve the sorts of policies that are going to drive the replacement ultimately of our coal-fired power stations. James?
The next question comes from Mr. Ian [Miller]. Please advise how coal-fired power plants have performed over the last two months. Secondly, have you been able to further improve ramp-up, ramp-down performance of the coal-fired plants?
Thank you, Ian, for the question. We'll provide our performance updates in the normal course. That's something that Damien is responsible for. In terms of the ramp-up and ramp-down, as you may be aware, we have conducted trials at Bayswater in relation to ramping up and ramping down the coal-fired power units in response to changes in demand during the day. Those trials have been very successful, and we will continue to develop that process to ensure that we have maximum flexibility operating the existing coal-fired assets that we have. James, do we have another question?
Next question comes from Mr. Alexander Legary. How does AGL account for use of generative AI or large language models as part of their climate disclosures? What is being done to offset or minimize these emissions?
Thank you for the question, Alexander. We, as I think Damien mentioned previously, do use AI across our organization to improve productivity in a number of areas and also to provide a better and more effective customer experience. We account for our own emissions in our CTAP, both Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions, and the initiatives that we undertake to minimize those emissions, including any emissions associated with our use of AI. James?
We have another question from Mr. Ian Miller. Please explain the Yadnarie long-duration energy storage project based on RayGen technology.
Thank you for the question. AGL has a number of long-duration storage technologies in its development pipeline. These include pumped hydro, batteries, gas-powered generation, and as you mentioned, the Yadnarie project. That project uses a combination of high-intensity solar radiation modules and also essentially water storage to be able to store energy in hot water for considerable periods of time. It is quite a useful potential long-duration storage technology. For us, it is just part of a range of technologies that we can consider and deploy. Do we have any more questions, James?
We have two more online questions. From Australasian Responsibility. AGL's coal closure dates remain largely unchanged in the 2025 CTAP. The Scope 1 and 2 emissions trajectory allows significant headroom for potential increasing use of coal power in the coming years. Investors need confidence that AGL, as Australia's largest greenhouse gas emitter, is actively managing and reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions with sufficient rigor. Could you give more detail on how the company is addressing these investor concerns and keeping emissions from coal under regular review to ensure AGL is not emitting more than absolutely necessary?
Thank you for that question. We have used conservative assumptions around those emissions. The reason that we do that is because there may be circumstances where increased generation is required in a particular year in order to meet the demand that we have from our customers. We do expect, however, to beat those interim targets that we've specified. James?
The final question comes from Mr. Stephen Main. It is disappointing that you have rejected requests to disclose the proxy position on all resolutions to the ASX along with the formal addresses, and that you even withheld proxy disclosure on the previous remuneration report item until after the debate on the remuneration report. Please disclose the proxy position on this climate resolution now so that shareholders can ask questions if there have been any noteworthy protest votes against the board's recommendation. Did any of the proxy advisors recommend against this resolution? If so, what concerns did they raise?
Thank you for the question, Stephen. Going answering your last question first, all proxy advisors recommended in favor of this resolution. We do not disclose the voting prior to the discussion of each item. The reason for that is we believe that it's the best way to have an open and robust discussion. We believe disclosing the results of the voting ahead of the discussion is the wrong way around. We will continue to do it the way that we do it at the moment. Thank you for your question. There are no further questions on this item. I think we can now move on. Details of the proxy and direct votes that have been cast on this item are shown on the screen. Please place your vote for this item if you have not already done so.
I now turn to the fourth item of business, which is the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor of AGL. I'll now invite questions on this item. Again, let's start with questions from shareholders and proxies in the room today. If anyone holding a yellow or blue card has a question, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you. There are no questions from the floor. James, do we have any questions online?
Chair, there are no questions online or on the phone.
Thank you, James. I think we can now move on. Details of the proxy and direct votes that have been cast on this item are as shown on the screen. Please place your vote for this item if you have not already done so. I now turn to the fifth item of business, which is the election of one new director and the re-election of two directors. As noted earlier, the board is seeking shareholder approval to appoint Betsy Donaghey as a director with effect from the end of this meeting. In accordance with clause 58 of the company's constitution, John Pollaers and Mark Twidell will retire from the board with effect from the close of meeting and now stand for re-election as directors.
Each of Betsy Donaghey, John Pollaers, and Mark Twidell will speak to you briefly about their candidacy, and I will then open the meeting to questions before inviting shareholders to vote on each resolution. The board, excluding each director in relation to their own re-election, recommends shareholders vote in favor of each resolution. Betsy Donaghey will now speak to you on her election.
Good afternoon, everyone. As Miles said, my name is Betsy Donaghey, and I'm seeking your support to join the AGL board. Both Australia and AGL are at a pivotal, a really important point in the energy transition. AGL has an exciting future ahead of it with a number of opportunities and challenges to navigate. I was honored when approached to be part of the AGL board, who are responsible for considering these opportunities and challenges. As this is my first introduction to most of you, I will spend a few minutes detailing my background. There have been two main phases to my career. During my executive career, building on a civil engineering degree and a master's in operations research, I held a number of positions in the upstream oil and gas industry, including commercial and strategy roles, before moving into business unit leadership roles with profit and loss responsibility.
I also held an executive role at Energy Australia, giving me valuable insights into the electricity industry. The second phase of my career has involved acting as a non-executive director for over 10 years, focused on the energy sector and the energy transition. This included a position on the Solar Flagship Council and roles on the boards of ARENA, AEMO, Amplitude Energy, and Ampol, where I've been able to meet and talk with some of you before. My experiences across managerial and non-executive director roles have built a knowledge and skill base that I believe would allow me to be an effective director of AGL. In particular, I would bring to the AGL board significant non-executive director experience, detailed experience in your industry, as well as in-depth knowledge of energy markets, energy systems, and the energy transition.
My time at Energy Australia and on the Ampol board have also given me valuable exposure to the retail sector and customer insights. I would be excited to join the AGL board and would be committed to serving in the best interests of shareholders. Like many companies, AGL seeks to deliver shareholder value. I believe AGL's two major strategic focuses, transitioning our energy portfolio and connecting every customer to a sustainable future, represent the best way to deliver that value. I hope you allow me to contribute to those efforts.
Thank you, Betsy. John Pollaers will now speak to you on his re-election.
Thank you, Chair, and good morning to all of our shareholders. It's been an extraordinary privilege to serve on the AGL board over the past three years. It's been a period of profound transition, of hard choices, and of excellent continuous progress. I stood originally not just because of my background as an electrical engineer or in transformation and governance, but because I believe that AGL had a unique opportunity, and that was an opportunity to lead, not just the sector, but the nation in the decarbonization and the electrification of the Australian economy, industry by industry, business by business, and household by household.
I bring to the board more than three decades of leadership experience across complex, regulated, and mostly contested industries, whether it be internationally in the consumer industry, driving policy reform across advanced manufacturing in the health sector, and now as Chancellor, leading an effort to reshape the sector's purpose in a fast-changing world. Each has taught me that transformation doesn't come from slogans. It comes from execution, disciplined capital application, operational excellence, and the alignment of culture and purpose. Over the last three years, I've been immensely proud to support the board and management, not only in executing AGL's renewed strategic priorities. We've advanced our flexible fleet, we've grown our energy portfolio, we've deepened customer relationships, delivered strong cash generation, and most importantly, demonstrated a commitment to deliver against our commitments.
We've done this while undertaking a retail transformation that simplifies products and has enhanced support for our customers, particularly those who have been vulnerable to cost of living pressures. There is still more to do. I remain deeply committed to helping AGL profitably deliver on its decarbonization commitments, including the closure of the coal-fired power stations by our announced closure dates, the scaling of renewables and firming capacity, and unlocking the full value for consumers and for shareholders that comes with the electrification of our industries and our households, while always looking and considering options to accelerate that progress where possible. I continue to champion the governance and the cultural integrity required by AGL to maintain public trust throughout the transition. To our shareholders, I offer deep operational experience, reform credentials, and a relentless focus on long-term value creation.
I also want to reassure shareholders that I bring not just time, but real value to the role. I've deliberately shaped all of my current commitments to be mutually reinforcing across energy, governance, consumer protection, and education, so the insights from one inform and strengthen the other. That means I come to this board not just with capacity, but with perspective, and I use both to ensure that AGL's interests are delivered with focus and with discipline. I show up prepared, I lean in when it counts, and I bring the full weight of my experience to this board. I do also though want to acknowledge the very high caliber of this board and the positive, focused, and forward-looking way in which it operates. I particularly want to note the executive team and the CEO, who I hold in very high regard.
It's been a true team effort, and I'm grateful to be part of it. It's in that sense that I respectfully ask for your support to continue this important work. Thank you.
Thanks, John. Mark Twidell will now speak to you on his re-election.
Thank you, Chair. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to stand before you today and seek re-election. Like John, it's been an absolute privilege to serve over the last three years on AGL board. I'm an engineer with 35 years' experience in the energy sector, mainly developing solar markets and battery storage technologies. My governance experience includes serving on the boards of ARENA with Betsy, the Clean Energy Council, and companies in Australia and Asia. My most recent executive role was leading Tesla in the Asia-Pacific region. Since joining AGL in 2022, I've been impressed, like John, by the board and the organization's strong commitment to the energy transition while maintaining a sharp focus on safety, reliability, and, importantly, financial performance. The opportunities and challenges ahead are significant.
Homes and businesses are rapidly electrifying through solar, batteries, electric vehicles, more efficient heating and cooling, and, importantly, for the first time in over a decade, electricity demand is growing, and that creates material opportunities for AGL. If re-elected, I will continue to contribute across the full spectrum of AGL's governance activities, but I'd like to draw particular attention to two areas of focus. The first, importantly, empowering customers, ensuring AGL's customers can access value-optimizing tech services through digital platforms and smart technologies such as home batteries, including the recently exciting vehicle-to-grid technology, which is emerging and being trialed by AGL. Customer energy resources are important to build the flexibility necessary to balance the supply-demand of the future energy system and help to reduce costs of that energy transition for everyone.
AGL is incredibly well positioned to lead in this area, and I'm proud to serve. Secondly, and importantly, delivering new profitable energy assets, supporting the expansion of wind and increasingly solar and storage capacity with an unwavering commitment to workforce safety and transitioning thermal power stations to our future industrial energy hubs to bring lasting benefits to the communities. Finally, and this is important, I remain absolutely committed to acting independently and in the best interests of AGL shareholders, and I thank you again for the opportunity to seek your support.
Thank you, Mark. I'll now take questions on the election of Betsy Donaghey and the re-election of John Pollaers and Mark Twidell, starting again with questions from shareholders and proxies in the room. If anyone holding a yellow or blue card has a question, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you.
Thanks very much. Very interesting presentations from the new possible directors. If I can ask a question to the three of you, I've given you back. Are you interested in data center development and therefore a new strategy relating to it and the large language models that you're going to possibly develop yourself, in collaboration with those data centers?
Thank you for the question. AGL is closely following the development of the data center market, obviously, as a potential large customer for us in Australia. The board is cognizant of that and regularly receives briefings from Damien on the development of that market. We have another question.
Thank you. It's not a question, just a comment. Elizabeth, I hope you don't spoil your reputation by putting your name on such a board as this with such a shockingly past record. I go back, the family goes back over 100 years with this company. I have memory back to the 1950s. Then it was renowned for a board with just having your mates on the board. You had that reputation, not the reputation, the catastrophe in New Zealand. The debacle in Western Australia. Lately, you had a AUD 1 billion spare a couple of years ago. Instead of giving you two dividends to the shareholders, you went on a share buyback. At the time, the shares were AUD 28. Within 18 months, I think it was 18 months, they fell to AUD 5 in one sentence. What a waste of AUD 1 billion. This is what we're putting up with.
I hope you can make a difference in the future. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment. I would observe that most of those incidents, in fact, all of them, happened long before this board was appointed, but thank you for your comment.
You make a difference in the future.
Thank you. Any other questions from the floor? No? James, do we have questions online?
Yes, Chair, we have one question online and no questions on the phone. The question comes from Mr. Stephen Main. Why didn't we just do the normal thing and appoint Betsy to fill a casual vacancy back when she was announced a director in May, rather than waiting until today before she formally joins the board? Yes, this does respect shareholder mandates, but why didn't you do what most other companies do?
Thanks for the question, Stephen. As you're aware, Kerry is proposing to retire at this meeting and we just thought it was appropriate, therefore, that Betsy should stand at this meeting. It's as simple as that. Thanks, I appreciate the question, Stephen. I think we can now move on. Details of the proxy and direct votes that have been cast on item five are shown on the screen. Please place your vote for items five, A, B, and C now if you have not already done so. I now turn to the sixth item of business, which is the grant of performance rights under the long-term incentive plan in the 2026 financial year to the Managing Director and CEO, Damien Nicks. The number of performance rights to be granted to Damien is 197,609 with a four-year performance period.
The number of performance rights that ultimately vest for Damien will depend upon the extent to which the performance conditions have been satisfied over the relevant performance period. The plan has two performance conditions. The first measure relates to AGL's relative total shareholder return, and the second measure relates to carbon transition, as I mentioned previously. The ASX listing rules require that shareholders approve the granting of performance rights to any director, including the Managing Director. The board, excluding Mr. Nicks, recommends shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. I will now take questions on the grant of performance rights to Mr. Damien Nicks. Again, let's start with questions from shareholders and proxies in the room today. Anyone holding a yellow or blue card has a question. Please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you.
[Charles Reach] again. This is a shocking record over the last six years. In 2019, you had a dividend of AUD 0.64 and about AUD 0.57. They should be up to AUD 1.60. Instead of that, it's AUD 0.48. That has fallen by more than two-thirds. What a shocking record to you. You should retire and the Company Chairman should retire with you. Unless you can improve on that, you don't deserve any bonus for that record. Over 70% reduction in dividends. A shocking record. Thank you.
Thank you for your, I'll take that as a comment, but just make the observation that, as I mentioned, the LTI is largely based on relative shareholder returns. In the past five years, the LTI has only vested twice for Mr. Nicks in a total amount of approximately 75,000 shares. I understand the point you're making that performance should be linked to shareholder experience, and it is. We have one more question at the back.
Antonette Grant again. I constantly vote against these extra money transactions because I feel everybody is paid sufficiently through their salaries, and the extra money shouldn't actually work to promote even more commitment. I think the commitment should be there in the first place, and I actually believe that most of you have that commitment in the first place. I am just objecting as a matter of principle, not just with AGL, but in general with all companies that have all these dealings and special remunerations on the side. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Antonette. I understand your position. AGL strives to make sure that its executive remuneration is in line with peers in the ASX, and that includes the structure of the remuneration, in our case, both STI and LTI elements, as well as base salary. I do understand your point. Thank you. We have one last question at the back.
Markus [Traikovski] . In a decades plan, a four-year term for a long incentive plan seems unduly short. The second part is when you picked the number of 197,609 shares, what price of the shares did you use to determine this? A number? Why was it 9 and not 10 or 600?
Thank you for the question. I understand the point you're raising about four years versus a 10-year plan. However, we have, as we discussed earlier in this meeting, interim plans which are in that sort of four-year timeframe. There are measures against which we can check that the four-year term of the performance rights is leading to achievement of what is, as Damien has said, a multi-decade strategy, or as you put, you know, a 10-year kind of plan. There are ways that we can measure that, and we do. In relation to your specific question, the average price of the shares was calculated as being the average price over 30 days up to and including 30th of June , 2025. That price was AUD 10.16. That's on page 13 of the notice of meeting. Thank you for the question. Are there any questions online, James?
Yes, Chair, there is one question online and no questions on the phone. The question online comes from Mr. Stephen Main. The latest annual report says that we have 113,171 shareholders, but less than 5% will have bothered voting today. Retail shareholder voting in Australia was already low, but crashed further after COVID with the move away from paper. When disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, including this LTI grant to the CEO, please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to with a scheme of arrangement. This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and insight into the chronically low retail shareholder participation rate. The likes of Qantas, ASX, Suncorp, Tabcorp, and even our own share registry provider, Computershare, have all voluntarily provided this data at their most recent AGMs.
You've got the data, Chair, so why not let the sun shine in, unlike your predecessor, Patricia McKenzie, who needlessly rejected such requests?
Thank you for the question, Stephen. As you said, this is not a scheme of arrangement situation, and the ASX requirements are met by the way that we disclose currently, and we don't intend to change the way we do that at present. Thank you for your question. If there's no more questions, I think we can move on. The details of the proxy and direct votes that have been cast on item six are shown on the screen. Please place your vote for this item now if you've not already done so. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the formal items of business for today's meeting. A summary of the direct votes and proxy votes I hold as proxy for shareholders in relation to each resolution are shown on the screen. The polls will remain open for another 10 minutes.
Results of the poll on each resolution put to the meeting will be provided to the ASX as soon as possible today and posted on the company's website. On behalf of the board, thank you for attending and demonstrating your interest in AGL by taking part in this meeting. I now declare the meeting closed, subject to conclusion of the poll. For those of you who would like, there are some refreshments out the front. If you'd like to join, some of the directors will be out there shortly if you'd like to have a discussion with any of us. Thank you again for attending.