The Turnbull government won't be taking up a suggestion of the Productivity Commission for a price on carbon.
The commission's report, Shifting the Dial, recommended Australian governments co-operate on energy reform.
"They must stop the piecemeal and stop-start approach to emission reduction, and adopt a proper vehicle for reducing carbon emissions that puts a single effective price on carbon," the report recommended.
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, who will meet with his state counterparts in November to iron out an energy and climate policy, said the government had settled on the "national energy guarantee".
"We have said a national energy guarantee involves no taxes, no subsidies, no trading schemes and no carbon prices and offers the best way forward," he told Sky News on Wednesday.
The NEG will require electricity retailers to make a certain amount of power available at all times - to guarantee reliability, while also guaranteeing certain levels of emissions to help the government meet its Paris accord target.
Mr Frydenberg said the PC report was completed before the work on the NEG was done.
"In light of the NEG and the fact that it was a recommendation by the experts, dare I say it the Productivity Commission may have had a different approach," he said.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has described the NEG as a "shell without any specifics".
Some of the states and federal Labor have also been critical of modelling which the Energy Security Board says could deliver a price saving of $115 a year on power bills between 2020 and 2030.
Mr Frydenberg said full modelling would be presented at the COAG Energy Council meeting on November 24, but the initial analysis by the ESB had "given us a sense of where the savings will be".
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was confident of swaying the states.
"I think you'll find a lot more common sense emerging from COAG than some of the media statements would suggest," he said.
The issue is also expected to be canvassed at a meeting of treasurers on Friday.
