The Baird government's plan to use the proceeds from the 49 per cent lease of the state's poles and wires to build infrastructure combines the worst features of privatisations undertaken over the past two decades and will weaken the state's financial position, a report by a leading academic economist says.

Professor John Quiggin, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at Queensland University, said poorly conceived characteristics of the proposal meant the fiscal loss to the public will "be at the upper end of the range observed in past privatisations".

He estimated that loss could be as high $1 billion a year on a cash basis or $2 billion a year on an accrual basis.