Queenslanders will benefit from cheaper electricity bills after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk launched a $300 million energy plan and vowed to keep assets in public hands, fuelling speculation an election was imminent.
Each of the state's 1.9 million households will receive a $50 rebate on their bill every year for two years from 2018, while increases will be pegged to the average rise of inflation.
Up to 100,000 families will also be eligible for a rebate of up to $300 on energy efficient fridges, air conditioners and washing machines.
Ms Palaszczuk said dividends from the state's publicly-owned electricity assets had previously been used to reduce debt and fix frontline services, but would now be reinvested back into Queensland families through the rebates.
"I am the only premier across Australia that can take this action," she said on Sunday, referring to the fact only the Sunshine State had retained control of its power stations, poles and wires.
Ms Palaszczuk's also threw down the gauntlet to Queensland's privately operating retail companies to stop "gouging" customers.
"This week I will be calling them in for a meeting and if they do not pass on the savings through to consumers I will introduce a Queensland company owned by Queenslanders and I will take the customers from them," she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said she had been informed she had the authority to pull the trigger.
Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the threat was nothing more than a "smokescreen" to divert from reports state-owned generators were price gouging by bidding at uncompetitively high prices.
"The Queensland government's got a lot of explaining to do to its own public as to why it's been happy to put this electricity tax on its own people," he told ABC TV on Sunday.
Queensland Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls also said the government's new energy plan was nothing more than a sham.
"This is just a desperate attempt to deal with an issue that Labor for too long has failed to address, that Labor has used the power companies as a hidden tax collector to bolster the bottom line of their budget," he said on Sunday.
Mr Nicholls accused the premier of following steps already taken by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to reduce power bills.
Ms Palaszczuk said she would look at economic modelling about the federal government's plan, but Queenslanders needed relief before its proposed start date of 2020.
