Got a call from AGL the other day offering a 12 per cent discount on the electricity bill. The catch was that, if we had solar panels, we could forget about the 12 per cent; only a 7 per cent discount was on offer.

This was highly suspicious behaviour. You know something is wrong if you get a call, out of the blue, offering you an unsolicited discount on anything.

Victoria's brown coal-fired Hazelwood plant. Credit:Mick Tsikas

Electricity prices have run too high. Renewable energy is rapidly getting cheaper, more efficient, and power companies are desperately trying to lock in customers and stave off the incursion from renewables.

This phone call was merely one shot fired in the generational war between "old power" and "new power".