Introduction

1 This publication summarises results from the 2009 State Supplementary Survey, Household Water, Energy Use and Conservation. The survey was conducted throughout Victoria during the two weeks commencing 11 October 2009.

Survey Sample Design

2 The survey was conducted as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Monthly Population Survey (MPS). The MPS is based on a multistage area sample of private dwellings (houses, flats, etc) and a list sample of non-private dwellings (hotels, motels etc). The 2009 State Supplementary Survey was conducted using seven-eighths of the full sample of private dwellings in Victoria that were included in the MPS.

3 For details of the design, scope and coverage of the MPS, readers should refer to the Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Sample Design, 2007 (cat. no. 6269.0), and any recent edition of the ABS publication Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).

4 The Labour Force Statistical Regions used for the survey are based on the 2006 Australian Standard Geographical Classification. For further information please see Chapter 5 Statistical Region Structure in the Statistical Geography Volume 1 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), Jul 2006 (cat. no. 1216.0). For maps of the Labour Force Statistical Regions please see Australian Labour Market Statistics, Jul 2009 (cat. no. 6105.0).

Scope

5 Information was collected from any responsible adult aged 18 years and over in the household per interview.

The following dwellings were excluded:

• unoccupied private dwellings
• non-private dwellings such as hospitals, hotels, motels and prisons

The following people were excluded:

• persons aged under 18 years
• members of the permanent defence forces
• certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from censuses and surveys
• overseas residents in Australia
• members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependents) stationed in Australia
• visitors to the household
• residents of non-private dwellings such as hospitals, hotels, motels and prisons

6 The survey was conducted in both urban and rural areas throughout Victoria, and excluded people living in very remote areas who would otherwise have been within the scope of the survey. The exclusion of these people had only a minor impact on any aggregate estimates.

Coverage

7 Coverage rules were applied to ensure that each person was associated with only one dwelling, and hence had only one chance of selection in the survey.

8 Information was sought from 4,584 people in Victoria and a full response was collected from 4,259 (93%).

Data Collection

9 Information was collected by either a face-to-face or telephone interview conducted over a two-week period during October 2009. Information was collected from any responsible adult in the household aged 18 years and over, who was asked to respond on behalf of the household for the water, energy use and conservation topics and for a randomly selected person in the household for the public transport use topic.

10 Data was collected on the number of persons in household. This includes all children (aged under 18 years) within the household plus the number of adults in scope of the Labour Force Survey.

11 Data was collected on the types of televisions owned by the household. At the time of the survey, LED televisions were not common enough to warrant their own category. As such, LED televisions may be classified as 'unsure of if television is LCD or plasma' or 'other television types' or 'don't know'.

12 Melbourne's public transport network is divided into two main Metropolitan Public Transport Zones. The geographic scope and detail of the public transport tables has been limited to CDs within Melbourne Metropolitan Public Transport Zones 1 and 2. Areas beyond the Melbourne Major Statistical Region were outside the scope of the public transport tables. CDs were aligned to the Metropolitan Public Transport Zone which had the majority of the area within that CD. CDs which were mostly in the Metropolitan Public Transport Zone boundary overlap (where stations and stops can be used as either Zone 1 or Zone 2) were aligned to Zone 1 on the presumption that most public transport travel is to and from the city centre, and as such, people in these CDs were more likely to have purchased a Zone 1 ticket. CDs outside Zone 2 but within the Melbourne Major Statistical Region were excluded from the public transport tables.

Reference period

13 The reference period for most tables within the data cubes is October 2009. The exceptions were:

• In Data Cube 3: Table 3a and 3b, the reference period is the three summer months of December 2008, January and February 2009
• In Data Cube 3: Table 4a and 4b, the reference period is the 12 months prior to October 2009
• In Data Cube 3: Table 9a and 9b, the reference period is the month prior to October 2009
• In Data Cube 3: Table 12a and 12b, the reference period is the ten years prior to October 2009
• In Data Cube 5: all tables, the reference period is the month prior to October 2009
  

Effects of rounding

14 Estimates have been rounded, and discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

Acknowledgement

15 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated. Without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act (1905).

Related publications

16 The ABS produces a wide range of publications relating to demographic, housing, environment and transport statistics. Current publications and other products released by the ABS are available from the Statistics View. The ABS also issues a daily Release Advice on the ABS website https://www.abs.gov.au which details products to be released in the week ahead.

17 The Household Water, Energy Use and Conservation survey is not part of the ongoing ABS MPS program. Extreme caution must be used when comparing the 2009 survey with other related publications as differences in scope and methodology exist.

Data available on request

18 Inquiries about these statistics and more detailed statistics than those presented in the publication should be made by contacting the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Aidan Kent in Melbourne on (03) 9615 7607.