Ex-NSW treasurer queries power price tag

Former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Egan believes the Baird government will only generate a "fraction" of the mooted $13 billion from the planned sale of state-owned electricity assets.

Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry into poles and wires, Mr Egan backed the leasing of 49 per cent of NSW's power infrastructure.

But he said the government was unlikely to raise the funds promised by Premier Mike Baird.

"To the extent that there is a windfall, and I believe there will be, it will be a fraction of that expected sale price of $13 billion," Mr Egan said.

He said if he and former premier Bob Carr had been able to deliver on their own privatisation aspirations in the 1990s, power prices today would "absolutely" be lower.

"Democracy's a marvellous thing and it's ideal for running a government; it's not ideal for running a commercial business," he said.

Mr Egan described the much-touted $300 billion economic uplift, which the government has promised will flow from the privatisation and subsequent investment in state-building projects, as "dribble".

The $300 billion figure was backed in a 2014 report from Deloitte Access Economics, which Mr Egan has rejected outright.

"I think they gathered all of their data together and put it through a Thermomix, which is renowned for cooking up anything you want to cook up," he said.

Later on Monday, NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian rejected a suggestion the appointment of former competition supremo Allan Fels to watch over electricity prices would be "hollow" because prices had already been lowered by a regulatory ruling.

Greens upper house MP John Kaye asked Ms Berejiklian how the appointment of Professor Fels would influence power bills.

Ms Berejiklian agreed there was already a framework to put downward pressure on prices.

"In addition to that we've appointed perhaps Australia's best known consumer advocate in Professor Alan Fels to actually give the final tick-off or cross in relation to pricing," she said.

"I guess I'm agreeing with you in that the government has done all it can."