AGL Energy boss Andrew Vesey says the stress on Australia's energy supply won't last forever, but there will not be a magic bullet that will fix the problems.
"People have to talk to each other, because no single party has the answer," Mr Vesey told an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia luncheon in Melbourne on Friday.
"This is a complex issue; it takes a lot of good minds and good people at the table to sort things in the best interests of all Australian citizens."
Mr Vesey's comments came a day after South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill publicly lambasted federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg at a joint media conference over their differing energy policies.
The heated exchange took place at an AGL event to mark the launch of a 1,000-strong network of solar batteries to be placed in Adelaide homes.
Mr Vesey, who was present at the press conference, joked on Friday that he had been in a similar situation "only at home".
Mr Vesey said the blame for Australia's tight energy supply and high prices had variously been placed on "unreliable" renewable energy, too much gas being exported, the shutdown of coal plants, and the privatisation of energy assets.
"It's none of the above and all of the above - there's a little truth to all these pieces, but it's not just one," he said.
Mr Vesey also said rapidly changing technology controlling the energy use in household appliances and allowing excess power to be fed back into the would help relieve some of the stress on the energy system.
"Your lightbulb will be talking to (another) lightbulb, and your refrigerator will talk to that refrigerator, and there'll be arbitrage across the system: that's coming," Mr Vesey said.
Mr Vesey said he believed that such changes would occur first in Australia because energy prices are high and there's a lot of competition, whereas in the United States, energy prices were low and there was hardly any competition.
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