AGIG wins award for AI booking service for meter changes

Australian Gas Infrastructure Group has won the Digital Customer Experience of the Year award at the Australian Service Excellence Awards for its online booking service for gas meter changes.

AGIG developed the service with Synechron, its Salesforce delivery partner on the project. The system replaces a paper-based, phone-only process with an online service that uses an AI agent to manage bookings, rescheduling and cancellations for meter change appointments.

The service supports AGIG's periodic meter replacement program, under which thousands of gas meters are changed each year. When a meter is not freely accessible, a technician visit requires an appointment with the customer.

Previously, customers received a printed letter asking them to call a contact centre to arrange a booking. Staff then checked appointment availability manually and applied scheduling rules held in spreadsheets.

Customers can now scan a unique QR code printed on the letter to open a booking page linked to their meter change. An AI agent called Aggie then guides them through making, changing or cancelling an appointment, without requiring them to log in or create an account.

The booking process still applies AGIG's existing scheduling rules, including crew capacity by service territory and postcode, a 60-day booking window, and a restriction on weekend or public holiday appointments.

The same capacity data and rules remain available to contact centre staff when customers choose to book by phone. The new system also runs alongside AGIG's existing Field Service scheduling and Maximo integration, which were left unchanged.

The technology was built across Salesforce Agentforce, Field Service and Experience Cloud. Each QR code links to a unique URL associated with the customer's meter change.

The service also uses Salesforce's Einstein Trust Layer for AI safeguards and audit logging. Personal data from chat sessions is deleted automatically after a set retention period.

Kelly Drewitt, Managing Director, Synechron Enterprise Australia & New Zealand, said the project showed how AI could be introduced into routine customer interactions while fitting around established operational controls.

"Congratulations to AGIG on a well-deserved win. This project shows how agentic AI can handle a routine customer task while working within a business's existing scheduling and privacy rules. We were pleased to support AGIG's team in bringing this to life," said Kelly Drewitt, Managing Director, Synechron Enterprise Australia & New Zealand.

Customer process

The shift reflects a broader move by utilities and infrastructure operators to reduce manual customer service processes for standard operational tasks. In AGIG's case, the new service focuses on a single but recurring process that requires coordination between customer communications, scheduling rules and field workforce availability.

The design allows AGIG to add new postcodes, service territories and frequently asked questions without changing the underlying system design, giving it a way to update the service as operating requirements change.

Cathryn McArthur, Executive General Manager Customer and Strategy, AGIG, said the aim was to make a standard customer interaction simpler.

"We're always looking for ways to make it easier for customers to interact with us. At its heart, Aggie is about making a routine task simpler and more convenient, giving customers more flexibility to manage their appointments when it suits them. We're proud of what has been achieved and pleased to see that work recognised by the Customer Service Institute of Australia," said Cathryn McArthur, Executive General Manager Customer and Strategy, AGIG.

AGIG owns and operates gas infrastructure serving more than two million homes and businesses across mainland Australia and the Northern Territory.