Queensland's energy minister has denied publicly owned electricity generators are overbidding in the wholesale power market and driving up prices for consumers.
Household and business electricity bills will surge at least nine per cent across Queensland, with businesses in the southeast set to cop a 19.8 per cent rise in 2022/23.
Retail bills are rising on the back of wholesale electricity prices quadrupling to $171 per megawatt hour in the year to March.
Climbing international coal and gas costs lifted Queensland wholesale prices to $283 MW/h - the highest level on record - in May.
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has denied state-owned generators Stanwell Corporation and C S Energy have been price gouging on the National Electricity Market.
"Publicly owned generators bid to cover generation costs," he told AAP.
"Any revenues above costs are given back to Queenslanders through Asset Ownership Dividends."
In 2017, the state government intervened in the market by ordering Stanwell and C S Energy to alter their bidding practices which led to drastic falls in wholesale and retail prices.
Queensland has another 14 coal and gas-fired power plants bidding on the NEM, operated by Arrow Energy, APA Group, Alinta Energy, Intergen, Origin Energy, QGC and RATCH Australia.
An Alinta representative declined to comment on "commercially sensitive information of this nature" when asked if they were overbidding on the wholesale market.
"What we will say is that, a. We have no upstream operations, and b. The pressures on the market are clear for all to see," they told AAP in a statement.
AAP has contacted the other six companies who operate Queensland's private coal and gas electricity generators for comment.
To cope with surging retail prices the state government is granting households a one-off $175 rebate on power bills, but businesses are on their own.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland has called on the government to shield businesses from the electricity price spikes.
"We know rebates have worked in the past as an appropriate mechanism to relieve power bill pressure, especially for small businesses," CCIQ's Cherie Josephson told AAP.
"We support a rebate for those impacted under Tariff 20, the most common for small businesses."
She said the CCIQ was particularly concerned about large businesses, whose bills will surge 21.2 per cent.
