Malcolm Turnbull says he'll be seeking confirmation from electricity retailers they are delivering on their promises to get power bills down.
The prime minister will meet in Sydney on Wednesday with electricity company executives for the second time in three weeks, as families and businesses cry out for action on steep rises.
"We've already got commitments from them and I want to confirm those and see how they're tracking in delivering," Mr Turnbull told 5AA radio on Tuesday.
He said retailers were benefiting from the "inertia" of customers not moving to cheaper plans, as well as the complexity of the system.
At the previous meeting, the retailers agreed to alert customers when a plan was coming to an end and advise them on the consequences of either sticking with the plan or moving to another offer.
Mr Turnbull said families were paying an average $2500 a year for their power, but could save 25 per cent by changing plans or retailers.
He queried calls for the government to help build a new coal-fired power station to address the supply shortage, which is one of the factors driving up prices.
"Certainly the government is not planning to build a coal-fired power station, but I might say ... there is no 'low cost' coal-fired power station, a new one anyway," Mr Turnbull said.
However, he said it would be "good" to have a "state-of-the-art, high-efficiency, low-emission coal-fired power station".
On Monday, the prime minister visited the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project in southern NSW which he said would put downward pressure on prices, but take six years to build.
Gas export restrictions would also improve supply and push down the prices paid by the nation's gas-fired power stations.
Labor has backed a call by energy bosses for the government to put in place a clean energy target to drive long-term investment in new supply.
"The Turnbull government's energy policy chaos is the chief reason behind massive investor uncertainty and the chief brake on badly needed new energy investment - driving up power prices and carbon pollution," opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler said.
Mr Turnbull is seeking to finalise a long-term policy by the end of the year.
