Tony Abbott believes Australia's energy policy is back where it was nine years ago, but Malcolm Turnbull says "my government" is making progress.
The former prime minister compared the current push for the national energy guarantee to the party's destabilising 2009 debate over an emissions trading scheme.
Mr Abbott pointed to internal divisions over the then-Labor government's emission trading scheme, which led to him successfully challenging Mr Turnbull for the Liberal party leadership.
Now he says the Liberal party is trying again to deal with Labor on emissions reductions, and "the wheel has come full circle".
"It's not a circle you can square with the Labor party... it is a fight that has to be won," he told The Australian.
"There can be no consensus on climate change ... you either win or lose ... and at the moment we are losing."
But Mr Turnbull says energy policy has progressed, repeatedly talking up "interventions by my government" leading to reduced wholesale electricity prices.
"It is time for energy policy to get out of the realm of politics and ideology and be guided by engineering and economics, and that is what my government is doing," the prime minister told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Junior minister Michael Sukkar also believes Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has found a way to bring people together around the national energy guarantee.
"I think let's let Josh do his job, he's proven a lot of people wrong in the past and I have a feeling he'll do so again in the future," he told Sky News.
Mr Abbott's remarks come a day after he said he was available if his party wanted him to lead again and ahead of a speech to climate sceptic think tank, The Australian Environment Foundation, on Tuesday night.
The federal Liberal government is negotiating with the states over its national energy guarantee, which is designed to ensure reliable and affordable power while also setting emission reduction targets.
But Mr Abbott warns Australia is "sleepwalking" to losing industries because of the policy - which will be put to an energy ministers' meeting on August 10 - arguing it prioritises cutting emissions over generating cheaper power.
However, steelmaker BlueScope, resources giant BHP and the minerals, farming and business lobbies have all called on MPs to support the NEG.
Mr Abbott is among a small group of coalition MPs who have spoken out against the NEG, which is backed by a majority of government MPs.
