THE federal government should have done more to prepare the public for the recent surge in power prices, a Labor senator says.
Speaking at the national conference of the Energy Efficiency Council, Labor Senator Matt Thistlethwaite said it was essential to arm consumers with better information.
Deregulation of the industry in the 1990s exposed consumers to the raw costs of producing electricity, Senator Thistlethwaite said.
Along with the eventual costs of carbon emissions and monopoly businesses that naturally exist in the transmission and distribution of electricity, he said "a perfect storm" was now hitting consumers.
"I don't believe we've prepared the public about that transition and what it means for them," he said.
The government was now attempting to remedy the problem through various reforms, he said, including the establishment of an Energy Consumer Challenge Panel.
AGL has forecast that in 2015 electricity prices will be double the levels of 2008, whereas an analysis by Port Jackson Partners put electricity costs in 2017 as 80 per cent higher than in 2011.
Choice CEO Alan Kirkland said the government had already failed to keep electricity prices affordable, and consumers must be well-represented at Friday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
He said 25 per cent of household electricity bills went towards infrastructure that is used for only 43 hours per year during extreme temperature spikes.
He called for improved consumer protection and more accessible data for consumers about time-of-use pricing.
Greens Leader Christine Milne said the national electricity market was blocking and distorting Australia's capacity to escape the grip of carbon.
"We can't disassociate from decarbonisation," she said.
"A maximised rollout of renewables is the best hedge against the volatility of pricing of coal and gas."
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