Consumers stung by costs of 'radical' energy transition

Consumers have been left in the dark and are carrying the rising costs under a failing approach to meeting Australia's energy needs, according to a senate inquiry.

"Everything gets sheeted back to energy consumers, not to the transmission companies, not to the generation companies, not to state or federal government," inquiry committee chair Senator David Van told AAP on Monday.

"It's a very rare circumstance where a cost can be passed through to consumers with no oversight or accountability," he said.

After releasing the final report of the inquiry into energy planning and regulation, the independent senator for Victoria said "something needs to change ... we're not getting to where we need to get to."

"The clear finding is that the transition has stalled, it's going backwards at worst," he said.

Backing coal over nuclear as a cheaper form of power, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan demanded an end to the 82 per cent renewables by 2030 target.

Australians struggling to pay their power bills deserved to know the true cost of the "radical" climate and renewable energy policies that have been adopted by their governments, he said in additional comments to the main report.

The greatest demonstration of the "close-minded approach" to energy policy making was the Australian Energy Market Operator's Integrated System Plan that he said had "morphed to yet another propaganda exercise for climate targets".

Energy incumbents were also in direct competition with households that generated their own electricity from rooftop solar, some witnesses said, with energy market bodies accused of acting to the detriment of consumers and new market participants.

Labor senators defended the operator's Integrated System Plan as "one of the world's most open, comprehensive, widely and openly consulted on, and transparently delivered energy system planning mechanisms in the world".

Labor also rejected the inquiry's central call for a sweeping Productivity Commission review, saying it would "create investor uncertainty and confusion" and undermine the work of a national electricity market review that is already underway.

Labor committee members slammed the "disproportionate" amount of time spent on nuclear issues and said the grid transition must prioritise "reliable, lowest-cost renewable energy" that can be deployed rapidly to bolster energy security and curb climate change.

Senator Van, a former Liberal who is up for re-election in 2025, said it was a "furphy" that the inquiry focused on adding nuclear to the energy mix, with little reference to it in the final report.

"Whether you are for or against nuclear, there's a thousand things that need to happen before that comes into play," he said.

The committee received evidence, for example, that the interests of energy consumers are not well represented in comparison to the views and interests of energy suppliers, and there was no consistency across states and territories in supporting consumers.

Low-income Australians - approximately 40 per cent of all households - have been the hardest hit by two decades of rising electricity prices, according to evidence from the Australian Council of Social Service.

Yet vulnerable households seldom understand complex pricing, often had the least flexibility in terms of shifting their electricity use to different periods, and ultimately paid higher prices for their electricity under time-of use tariffs, ACOSS warned.