Concession card holders are more likely to be in energy hardship and suffering from financial stress and mental distress than other Australians
Taking The Pulse of the Nation
Informing Australian economic & social policy.
A Melbourne Institute & Roy Morgan partnership
Taking the Pulse of the Nation (TTPN) surveys the Australian population to capture their sentiments and behaviours related to current economic and social issues.
Since 2020, the Taking the Pulse of the Nation (TTPN) survey has collected compelling information on the changing behaviours and attitudes of Australians. Together, Melbourne Institute and Roy Morgan understand the value in capturing the voices of Australians on the issues that matter right now. We use this information to create expert analyses to directly inform social and economic policies for our Nation.
This survey data is available to the public upon request. Please contact us for more information and access.
Insights into energy concession awareness and energy-related behaviours among concession card holders in Australia
A collaboration between the Energy Charter and the Melbourne Institute, this report presents findings related to concession card holders in Australia, in particular their behaviours related to reducing energy consumption and paying energy bills, the application of concessions to their energy bills, estimates of energy hardship, and the extent of awareness and understanding of the Energy Charter’s #BetterTogether National Concessions Awareness and Engagement Campaign, “Keep the money. It’s yours.”
The data for the analysis emanated from two sources. The first was the Melbourne Institute-Roy Morgan Taking the Pulse of the Nation (TTPN) Survey, which contained an energy concession module consisting of relevant questions of interest in the June 2023, December 2023, and February 2024 waves of the TTPN survey. The TTPN survey is nationally representative of the Australian population in terms of age, gender, and location and roughly interviews 1,000 respondents each wave.
Due to limited access to respondents in the Northern Territory in the TTPN Survey sampling, a separate survey was promoted to Northern Territory residents that encouraged them to complete online surveys in July 2023, December 2023, and March 2024.
The key conclusions are:
Concession card holders tend to have different characteristics than non-concession card holders
- Just over 35 percent of Australians have at least one concession card, but among this group only about a third were aware that they may be eligible for concessions on their energy bills.
- Compared to non-concession holders, concession holders tend to be older and have a greater share of individuals that identify as Indigenous.
- Concession holders are more likely to be unemployed and have much lower levels of household income relative to non-concession holders.
- Concession holders (31.6 percent) are more likely than non-concession holders (22.0 percent) to be in financial stress.
- The prevalence of mental distress is higher among concession holders (20.2 percent) compared to non-concession holders (14.9 percent).
Concession card holders tend to have different characteristics than non-concession card holders. Most concession card holders have not applied an energy concession to their energy bill
- Just under 62 percent of concession holders have not applied energy concessions to their energy bill in the past six months, which is mainly attributed to lack of awareness and lack of knowledge of energy concessions.
Australians are using several behaviours to lower their energy bills
- 1 in 3 concession holders are paying at least part of their energy bills by applying an ongoing energy concession or rebate.
- Most Australians are limiting the extent to which they use cooking and non-cooking appliances and using less hot water.
- To pay their energy bills, concession holders are using credit cards (26.2 percent), buy-now-pay-later services (15.1 percent), borrowing from family or friends (11 percent) and dipping into their superannuation (8.3 percent).
Concession holders report high rates of energy hardship
- Reported energy hardship among concession holders is very high, with 30.9 percent reporting that they are not able to pay energy bills or not able to adjust their homes’ temperature settings, or both.
- A quarter of concession holders are unable to heat or cool their homes to a comfortable level, whereas 16.1 percent are unable to pay their energy bills on time.
The #BetterTogether National Concessions Awareness and Engagement Campaign, “Keep the money. It’s yours.” was reasonably successful in raising awareness of energy concessions.
- Among concession holders, 15.7 percent had heard of or seen the campaign and knew what the campaign meant. A further 19 percent of the concession card holders were aware of the campaign, but either misunderstood its message (10.4 percent) or were unsure what the message was (8.6 percent).
- Whereas 86.7 per cent of non-concession holders were not at all aware of the campaign, 65.3 per cent of concession holders were not aware of the campaign, suggesting that the awareness campaign was relatively more successful among concession holders.
Overall, the findings in this report highlight that there is significant scope for initiatives that would help raise general awareness and understanding of energy concessions among those individuals who are eligible, and to assist all eligible individuals to successfully apply concessions to their energy bills.
Authors: This Taking the Pulse of the Nation insight was commissioned by the Energy Charter and authored by Dr Ferdi Botha, Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute and Dr Kushneel Prakash, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, on 24 June 2024.
Contact: melb-inst@unimelb.edu.au.
Full Report: https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/4971096/Energy-Charter_Report_Final.pdf
About Taking the Pulse of the Nation (TTPN):
The data for the analysis emanated from two sources. The first was the Melbourne Institute-Roy Morgan Taking the Pulse of the Nation (TTPN) Survey, which contained an energy concession module consisting of relevant questions of interest in the June 2023, December 2023, and February 2024 waves of the TTPN survey.
*Beginning in April 2020, the Taking the Pulse of the Nation (TTPN) was conceptualised and implemented by a group of researchers at the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research.
In 2022, the Melbourne Institute and Roy Morgan formed a partnership to extend the running of the TTPN. Each wave includes a set of core questions, as well as additional questions that address current and emerging issues facing Australians.
The TTPN sample is stratified to reflect the Australian adult population in terms of age, gender, and location. The TTPN Survey uses a repeated cross-sectional design. If you are interested in adding questions to the survey or accessing the data, please contact us at: melb-inst@unimelb.edu.au.
To view all Melbourne Institute – Roy Morgan Taking The Pulse of the Nation Reports visit the TTPN website portal: https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/data/ttpn
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
