As Australia's biggest energy generators and retailers AGL and Origin report their profits results, there are calls for more to be done to reduce electricity and gas prices.
AGL customer Chris Giannaras' household electricity bill has gone up 30 per cent in four years.
"We spend about $1,500 a quarter on electricity, nearly $5,000 a year," he tells ABC News.
"When you bundle it on top of cost of living in general, with grocery prices, fuel, etc, it just adds to that burden and stress that all households are feeling."
ASX-listed AGL and Origin have about 9 million customers between them and as well as getting into renewables, own Australia's last remaining major coal-fired power stations.
Australia's biggest coal-fired power station Eraring is owned by Origin, while AGL owns Loy Yang A and Bayswater.
High coal and gas prices, which are linked to the international market, have also increased costs for electricity generators and retailers.
Elevated coal prices were one of the factors along with other business costs listed by AGL for its 83 per cent fall in profit to $97 million in the six months to December 31. However, as some analysts have pointed out AGL's fall in profit came after strong results in the prior corresponding period.
Origin, however, has benefited from high gas prices because it is a major east coast producer.
In reporting its half-year results on Thursday, Origin attributed its 2 per cent profit increase to $1 billion to higher gas export prices offsetting lower earnings in east coast power markets.
High gas prices have been cited as the reason for several major manufacturers shutting down their Australian operations including Incitec Pivot, Qenos and Oceania Glass.
Former chair of the ACCC, Allan Fels, says Australians are paying too much for electricity and gas.
"Energy prices could and should be lower," Fels tells ABC News.
"There's been a massive increase in profitability of the energy companies in the last couple of years or more, and prices have gone up by far, far more than the CPI, and there have been government energy rebates.
"So, all of that points to a case for having lower energy prices, especially electricity."
The federal government's $3.5 billion in energy price relief rebates for households and small businesses not only reduced electricity and gas bills, but have also been a key factor in lowering inflation.
Fels says the public is entitled to be concerned when there is a big energy subsidy to bring down prices for consumers and an energy company still makes a healthy profit.
"It doesn't seem to be justified that the public supports a firm's prices and the full benefit doesn't go through to the consumer," he says.
In his report, investigating the broader electricity and gas retail market last year, Fels found evidence of loyal customers being charged more and different pricing for households and businesses.
"That can legitimately be called price gouging, when it's so big, the difference between what the consumer pays and what business pays, consumers are clearly being exploited, driven by an underlying lack of competition," Fels says.
In December while the ACCC reported retail margins for energy retailers have decreased due to factors like falling wholesale costs and increased competition, those falls were offset by rising network costs and to a lesser extent retail costs.
AGL and Origin reject any suggestion they are price gouging customers, pointing to the squeeze on retail margins. They also point out network costs make about 40 per cent of a customer's bill.
AGL says it continues to support customers who are struggling to pay their energy bills, adding it has also made a "conscious decision to not pass through the full cost movements in retail pricing in part because of customer affordability."
A spokesperson for Origin Energy says the company has kept its prices below the regulated standing prices determined by regulators.
"Origin continues to support our customers experiencing financial hardship and we encourage anyone struggling to pay their energy bill to contact their retailer."
Is profit bad?
Barrenjoey's energy and utilities analyst Dale Koenders says Australia's energy companies need to be profitable so they can help with the nation's energy transition.
"They all have very large growth programs of reinvesting money in the assets that we need up and down the east coast to keep the lights on," Mr Koenders says.
"A good example is AGL looking to spend several billions of dollars on new energy infrastructure, largely batteries."
AGL told investors plans to focus on new pumped hydro projects and gas, while Origin is also investing in large-scale batteries.
"So, without the profitability today, they would not be able to afford the assets that we need for tomorrow."
Call for better access to energy efficiency schemes
With a federal election looming it's likely the federal government will announce an extension of energy rebates to bring the cost of electricity and gas down for households and businesses.
Chris Giannaras, who works in the energy efficiency industry, says instead the money would be better spent helping people install solar and batteries, as well as reducing their energy consumption with more efficient appliances.
"I see the federal government rebates as something that is a very short term bandaid fix," he says.
"Great for low-income earners, but for middle class Australia, not so much.
"They could be doing it in a much smarter and much more effective way to create efficiencies in a home, more permanently than just handing something out that helps for a very short period of time."
He says while there are various federal and state government schemes, energy efficiency schemes and green loans already out there, they're not widely known about, and don't provide the same benefits for renters like himself.
"Seeing a little bit more accessibility for renters would be something that would be wonderful and very, very effective."
"An efficient home is 10 times more effective in reducing costs than the supply side of reducing the cost of energy."
