Last updated: 2023
These awards are based on survey data collected every three months across one year, resulting in a total combined sample size of above 12,000 unique respondents. The surveys are delivered through Qualtrics’ expert research online panels, as well as any external panels Qualtrics may engage. All panels engaged for Canstar Blue market research are ISO20252 or ISO26362 accredited.
For a respondent to be included, they must have an active electricity or gas connection and be responsible for paying the bills. For a respondent to be included in the telco categories, they must have an active mobile phone account and/or internet account and be responsible for paying the bills. For a provider to qualify, it must receive a minimum of 30 responses. Once these requirements are taken into consideration, of the 12,000 total respondents, approximately 54% usually qualify to complete the electricity component of the survey, resulting in a sample size of more than 6,000 for Canstar Blue’s electricity provider trust ratings. For the gas component of the survey, approximately 34% qualify, resulting in a sample size of more than 4,000 for the natural gas supplier trust ratings.
Respondents are asked to rate the level of trust they have in their provider (whether it be electricity, gas, internet or mobile plan), which is a score given on a zero to ten scale, where zero is ‘do not trust at all’ and ten is ‘trust completely’. Respondents are then asked to rate the level of trust they have for companies in that market in general.
Our Most Trusted award winners are calculated by finding the average trust score for each provider, and measuring that against the overall average trust score for the market in general. This method gives a more accurate representation of how all participating respondents feel about companies across a particular market, not just their own.
The winner of a Most Trusted award is the provider with the average trust score that is highest above the overall average trust score for the market (companies in general). If two providers in a category each have a score within 0.05 of each other, a tie will be declared and both providers will be awarded as joint winners under the category.
This methodology and the many others Canstar Blue uses to conduct it’s in-depth consumer research are managed by Canstar Blue’s in-house Research Team. They provide the expertise that powers our Star Ratings and Awards, designed to help Australian consumers make more informed purchasing decisions.
Meet the Research Team