Last updated: September 2023
Canstar Blue’s Outstanding Value Award for Electricity and Solar Electricity Plans uses a sophisticated ratings methodology, unique to Canstar Blue, which compares providers’ suite of Electricity products offered to consumers.
The Canstar Blue Outstanding Value Award is awarded to providers in each state/territory that provide the strongest Electricity or Solar offering across consumer profiles from Canstar Blue’s Electricity Value Rank.
Canstar Blue’s Electricity and Solar Electricity Outstanding Value Award consider Electricity plans that are either single rate, or controlled load. For the Solar Electricity Plans Outstanding Value Award, only plans with a solar feed-in tariff are considered.
Plans that do not have actual pricing available are not considered (e.g. plans that provide access to wholesale electricity spot pricing and are only able to provide an estimated usage rate are excluded from consideration in the Award).
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| Plan Type | Eligibility Criteria | Consumer Variables |
|---|---|---|
| Single Rate | Plan must be available under a single rate tariff which may be called:
Does not include:
|
|
| Controlled Load | Plan must be eligible under single rate tariff (as above) with the optional availability of a controlled load tariff, or, plan must be a controlled load specific plan, which may be called:
Does not include:
|
|
For each state/territory, Canstar Blue takes into account providers’ performance over two tariff types, three household sizes (not applicable for Solar Electricity Plans), and each distribution network within that state/territory.
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| Tariff Type | Household Size (not applicable for Solar Electricity plans) | Distribution Network |
|---|---|---|
| Single Rate
Single Rate with Controlled Load |
1 person household
3 person household 5 person household |
ACT – Evoenergy
NSW – Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, and Essential Energy QLD – Energex SA – SA Power Networks VIC – Citipower, Jemena, Powercor, Ausnet Services, and United Energy TAS – TasNetworks (not applicable for Solar Electricity plans) |
For each tariff type, household size, and distribution network, Canstar Blue uses an estimated annual electricity usage.
For Controlled Load profiles, controlled load usage is assumed to be 30% of total usage.
Canstar Blue’s Outstanding Value Award for Electricity Plans (State/Territory) and Solar Electricity Plans (State/Territory) considers a retailer’s cumulative performance across single rate and controlled load plans over a three-month historical consideration, for each distribution network within the state/territory. The weights below represent the weighted distribution of each plan type considered in the award. To be considered for a State/Territory award, a retailer must be available in all considered distributors for that State/Territory.
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Canstar Blue endeavours to include the majority of providers and products in the market and to compare product features relevant to most consumers in our ratings. However, this process is not always possible, and it may be that not every provider and/or product in the market is included in the rating, nor every feature compared that is relevant to you.
Canstar Blue monitors changes on an ongoing basis, and the Value Rank, Pricing Score and Feature Scores of each plan are fully re-calculated every day.
Canstar Blue ranks Electricity plans based on value-for-money. Whereby, the Value Rank takes into account a plans’ estimated annual cost and features offered as compared to the market. The plans that are lower in cost and have more features will be ranked higher than plans which have higher cost and fewer features.
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