NSW is pushing for a cap on the price of coal, saying Australia is running out of time to curb surging energy prices.
State Treasurer Matt Kean says the nation has until next Thursday to implement a cap otherwise prices will continue to rise well into next year.
"The Australian Energy Regulator made it very clear that if you're going to use price caps ... to dampen electricity prices then you need to move very quickly," Mr Kean told Sky News on Thursday.
"Two months ago the Albanese government said that they would solve this problem and here were are today with not a solution, just an excuse."
He cited pointed to regulator chair Clare Savage saying she recently told a meeting of Australia's energy ministers that "without action before the 1 December it's very likely that high (wholesale) electricity prices would be baked into the system for the next 12 months".
Introducing a coal price cap was a "national problem that requires a national solution", Mr Kean said, adding he had received advice that the federal government could legally do so.
The federal government is reportedly looking to shift the onus of introducing a coal price cap to the states and territories, rather than take a national approach.
Industry representatives have pushed back against the idea of a cap in NSW saying it will have little effect on consumer prices but will be very disruptive for the sector.
NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said 80 per cent of the state's coal power stations were paying far less than the global price for coal due to existing contracts.
"A price cap on domestic coal supply will distort the coal market, potentially disrupt existing commercial arrangements," he said.
"The NSW government needs to carefully consider the full implications."
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he had discussed the issue with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, ahead of a National Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
"The prime minister and the federal government has come out and said that they will provide solutions to reduce the cost of living across the country and we support that," he told reporters on Thursday.
"But ultimately, it's a matter for them to come up with those solutions."
If NSW was left to foot the bill for a coal price cap the state's taxpayers would "need to be compensated", Mr Perrottet warned.
The energy regulator's annual retail market report released this week showed wholesale electricity and gas prices had significantly increased, driven by market volatility
Median market offers, which flow through to consumer prices, rose by between nine and 20 per cent for electricity from June to September 2022, according to its report.
