Ahead of our 2019 public education campaign around energy rights reforms, we surveyed Victorian households to establish existing levels of awareness about energy rights.
Energy rights campaign survey overview
Ahead of our 2019 public education campaign around energy rights reforms, we conducted a survey of Victorian households to establish existing levels of awareness about energy rights and whether people knew where to go to get information about their rights.
A post campaign survey will also be undertaken to determine if the campaign has worked to increase awareness.
Automated voice polling was used to survey a statistically valid pool of 800 Victorians evenly split between metropolitan and regional Victorians. We also collected data around age and economic comfort so we could determine if different age groups or income affected people’s perception of their rights and perception of their own agency to ‘get a better deal’ i.e. do they feel they have any power?
We asked five questions - all yes/no answers. We are investigating adding an extra question for the final survey to test if people have done anything as a result of hearing about the reforms.
High level results
| Question | Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Are you aware of whether energy companies tell you if you’re on the best deal for you? | 26% | 74% |
| 2 | If you were having difficulty paying your bill would you contact your retailer for assistance? | 78% | 22% |
| 3 | Do you think you could get a better deal from your energy retailer by ringing up and asking? (General population) | 61% | 39% |
| Do you think you could get a better deal from your energy retailer by ringing up and asking? (Identify as 'often struggling to meet basic expenses') | 48% | 52% | |
| 4 | Do you know where to go to get more information about your rights related to your energy retailer? (General population) | 32% | 68% |
|
Do you know where to go to get more information about your rights related to your energy retailer? (Identify as 'often struggling to meet basic expenses') |
25% | 75% | |
| 5 | Have you heard about Victorian energy reforms recently, for example the proposed Victorian Default Offer? (General population) | 23% | 77% |
| Have you heard about Victorian energy reforms recently, for example the proposed Victorian Default Offer? (Identify as often struggling to meet basic expenses) |
12% | 88% | |