As a federal MP warns Australians will die this winter because they can't pay their power bills, the states are threatening to go it alone on a new energy policy.
The nation's energy ministers meet on Friday to discuss Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's report on the national electricity market.
The Turnbull government has accepted 49 of its 50 recommendations but is still considering the central proposal for a clean energy target, with some among its ranks raising concerns over the role of coal power.
Energy ministers from some states are now saying they'll look at implementing a clean energy target without federal involvement.
South Australian Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis says his state has discussed with other jurisdictions what to do if federal inaction continues.
"Every energy expert, industry group and major business have called for a market mechanism like the clean energy target to drive new private sector investment in the national electricity market," he said on Thursday.
Victorian minister Lily D'Ambrosio said the states had already been forced to go it alone when the federal government "went backwards" on renewable energy policy.
But federal minister Josh Frydenberg dismissed the threat as political posturing from Labor states.
"One of the real challenges we have at the moment is that the states have been going it alone creating inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the system," he told AAP.
ACT Energy Minister Shane Rattenbury accused the federal government of cherry-picking the Finkel review recommendations.
"I don't have the confidence that the Liberal Party can deliver the deal," he told AAP.
Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT on Thursday joined former US vice-president Al Gore to sign a pledge for zero net carbon emissions by 2050.
Earlier, federal coalition MP Crag Kelly linked the proliferation of renewables with people dying during winter because they couldn't afford heating.
"People will die," the coalition's climate and energy committee chairman told ABC radio.
He's previously linked renewable energy with drownings and cancer.
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler called for Mr Kelly to be sacked from the climate policy committee over the "appalling intervention".
"Frankly, if Mr Kelly was genuinely concerned about the impact of rising power prices on NSW households, he would go into the coalition party room and argue the case for a clean energy target, instead of perpetuating his baseless scare campaign," he told reporters in Sydney.
Mr Frydenberg later told Sky News he didn't agree with his colleagues' comments, but said it wasn't up to him to decide if he keeps his role as chair.
A new expert analysis of power prices suggests it's high gas prices - and not the growing share of renewables - that are pushing up energy costs.
Australian National University energy analyst Hugh Saddler says that's the way the energy market is designed to work.
At the Brisbane meeting on Friday, members of the Finkel panel, the consumer watchdog and the electricity market regulators will brief energy ministers.
Mr Frydenberg is also expected to push the states to end bans on gas exploration and extraction.
