New legislative powers to give the South Australian government more control of the state's energy network are a matter of urgency, Premier Jay Weatherill says.
The premier introduced legislation to state parliament on Tuesday to amend the state's Emergency Management Act, a key element of the state's $550 million energy plan.
The changes give the SA energy minister the power to protect local consumers at times of a declared electricity emergency if the supply of power is disrupted to a significant degree or may be disrupted.
Those powers include the ability to order a power generator to turn on additional capacity or to provide other directions to electricity retailers or the Australian Energy Market Operator.
"Relying on existing provisions for the management of emergencies is not an option," Mr Weatherill told the parliament.
"Electricity supply emergencies occur very swiftly."
He said the bill would allow the government to rapidly respond to events as they emerged but pledged that the special powers would only be used as a last resort.
An electricity emergency can only be declared for a maximum of 14 days.
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall described the legislation as a political stunt and questioned why a copy of the bill had not been provided to Liberal MPs in the normal fashion.
"If they were serious about fixing the mess that they have inflicted on the people of South Australia they would be working with us on this side of the chamber," he said.
"But instead, all they're interested in is playing petty politics."
As well as the legislative measures, the state's energy plan includes construction of a new battery to store renewable energy and construction of a government-owned, gas-fired power station.
Tenders for the gas plant were to be issued on Tuesday.
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