Some Australian households will be slugged up to $200 extra a year under proposed energy price rises.
Power bill increases of up to nine per cent for customers on the safety net price set by regulators has the major parties trading barbs over their respective energy policies.
Caps on what retailers can charge households and businesses in NSW, South Australia, southeast Queensland and Victoria are refreshed by regulators every year.
The ruling protects customers who fail to shop around from unjustifiably sharp price jumps and serves as a benchmark for retailers to price competitive deals.
Some NSW households on default market offers, as they are known, could end up paying $200 more a year than the 12 months prior, with smaller increases expected in Queensland ($119) and South Australia ($114).
In Victoria, far more modest gains of less than one per cent - about $12 a year - have been pencilled in, depending on location.
The Australian Energy Regulator, which sets default offers in NSW, South Australia and Queensland, said both higher wholesale prices and poles and wires costs were contributing to the rises.
Average wholesale market spot prices moved higher last year, driven by high demand, coal generator and network outages, and low solar and wind output that caused "high price events".
“We’ve seen cost pressures across nearly every component of the default market offer,” AER chair Clare Savage said.
The ruling was still well below the hikes after the pandemic, with Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen drawing attention to two rounds of energy bill relief delivered by his government so far.
“It’s clear energy bills for Australians remain too high, and we’re providing help for people doing it tough as we deliver longer term reform," he said, referring to the transition underway to a low carbon renewables-based grid supported by storage.
Cost-of-living remains top of mind for the electorate heading to the polls by May 17.
Energy bill relief is tipped for its third extension in the budget due later in March.
Mr Bowen further took aim at the opposition's plan to build nuclear power stations, claiming it would "extend the energy pain Australians feel".
Opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said Labor's energy plan was failing "everywhere you look".
"Labor is struggling to keep the lights on, can’t get offshore wind projects off the ground, gas supply is on a knife edge and they can’t even deliver on their reckless emissions targets,” Mr O’Brien said.
"Bowen is driving up power prices, pushing businesses to the wall, and leaving Australians worse off."
Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis lead electricity analyst Johanna Bowyer said Australia's ageing coal power stations were prone to outages, with expensive gas generation usually required to fill the gap.
Higher penetrations of renewable energy were linked with lower spot prices, she said, with wind and solar bidding into the market at a very low price.
"More renewable energy entering the system would drive further wholesale price reductions," she said.
Transmission and distribution infrastructure - poles and wires - was another driver of higher prices.
Ms Bowyer said it was possible to reduce bills by tightening regulations on network businesses earning "supernormal profits".
Institute of Public Affairs research fellow Saxon Davidson said "disastrous and destructive" net-zero policies were driving up power bills.
"You simply cannot run an advanced nation without secure and affordable energy, yet federal and state governments are pressing ahead with plans to destroy our energy generators,” Mr Davidson said.
