Energy retailers say electricity consumers would benefit from a faster move to a floating carbon price, but it's too early to tell what the cost savings would be.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the shift from a fixed to a floating carbon price of about $6-$7 a tonne next year 2014 will save the average household around $380 a year in 2014/15.
"These are Treasury estimates ... and of course we'll be watching very carefully," he told reporters in Rockhampton on Tuesday.
Energy Retailers Association of Australia (ERAA) chief executive Cameron O'Reilly told AAP the $380 savings estimate related to the overall impact on living costs rather than just electricity or gas.
Mr O'Reilly also said only about eight per cent of the cost of the average residential electricity bill in Queensland, NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT was due to the carbon price.
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The NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has estimated the impact of green schemes - including the carbon price, the Renewable Energy Target (RET), the Energy Savings Scheme and the Climate Change Fund - on residential bills.
It estimates an impact of $332 on the typical bill in 2013/14, with the carbon price contributing to $172.
"If the Australian government moves to a floating price on carbon emissions, the carbon component which contributes to these estimates will decrease, but it is difficult to estimate the exact impact on energy bills," Mr O'Reilly said.
But generation costs would be lower under a lower floating price.
This would be passed on by retailers but the extent to which retail prices move depends on what happened to the other cost components, most notably networks, Mr O'Reilly said.
Network costs in 2012/13 contributed about 45 per cent of the average electricity bill.
Mr O'Reilly said the timing of any price cut would depend on when the carbon price change was legislated and how quickly it flowed through to the energy wholesale contract market where most energy is traded.
"The market will ultimately ensure the benefits are passed on to consumers but it has to be remembered there are other costs pressures on the industry beyond the carbon price," he said.
