Baird dismisses vow to block $20b plan

NSW Premier Mike Baird has dismissed a vow by the Shooters and Fishers Party to block the sale of electricity assets to fund $20 billion worth of infrastructure projects.

"It's not going to surprise anyone that those sort of comments come out in the midst of an election campaign," he told reporters in Sydney, referring to the March poll.

Mr Baird said the money spent on infrastructure arising from the sale of 49 per cent of electricity distribution businesses would transform the state.

But Shooters and Fishers Party MP Robert Borsak said the sale would not end there.

"We think it's a full sale just being dressed up as a partial sale as a short-term sop to the Nationals," he told Fairfax Media.

Mr Borsak believed the premier would move to sell the remaining assets, including Essential Energy, a regional provider that has been excluded from the transaction to secure the support of the Nationals.

However, Mr Baird said the state would maintain 100 per cent of Essential Energy and present a plan to parliament for 49 per cent of the "poles and wires" business.

"We have kept our word ... and that is what we will do," he said.

The 2015 election will be crucial to the plan because the Shooters and Fishers Party share the balance of power with the Christian Democratic Party in the NSW upper house.

The parties can block legislation opposed by Labor and the Greens.