Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says there is a policy vacuum on energy. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "About 12 per cent of your energy bill relates to retailers, that's the Origins, the AGLs the Energy Australias," he said. "They in Victoria particularly have seen profit margins in the vicinity of 22 per cent. That is three times what you would see in a comparable retailer in the United Kingdom and more than double what you would see in other retail sectors like fuel or food or vehicles." Retailers' profits jump In the last week Origin announced an underlying profit for the financial year of $550 million, a jump of $185 million. AGL reported an underlying profit, excluding significant items, of $802 million, up 14.4 per cent from $701 million.

Both results were notable for the strong gains from the companies' generation businesses as wholesale prices spiked after the Hazelwood power station closure. Senator Nick Xenophon says Australia will be scarred. Credit:Andrew Meares Mr Frydenberg told the summit making it easier for businesses and consumers to shop around between energy retailers would help lower prices. "What we have done as the federal government is we have called in the retailers and we have demanded they do more with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in terms of providing information that will enable businesses to move their retailers or to move contracts," he said. "Businesses can save more than $1000 a year simply by moving retailers."

Despite the upward financial pressure, Mr Frydenberg was optimistic the federal government could reduce energy prices. You cannot be fair dinkum about energy prices in this country unless you have a commitment to a clean energy target. Bill Shorten "There are some positive signs coming through in the form of prices and supply over time," he said. Shorten: 'energy prices out of control' Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said more needed to be done.

"Energy prices are out of control for families and for businesses and they will continue to go up and up and up until we have energy policy certainty in this country which has to include, I submit to you, a clean energy target," he told the summit on Friday. Shorten said clean energy is key with "tens of thousands" of small business owners already embracing rooftop solar as a way of exerting some control over their bills. "The number of rooftop solar is going to grow as installation costs and operation costs drop further," he says. "I think though that the biggest impediment to the transition to more reliable cheaper energy is not the technology, not the consumers, not with business – to be blunt the problem is with politics." Shorten said all sides of politics needed to take some responsibility for this. "Policy uncertainty is driving rising prices," he said.

"There is a vacuum of policy certainty which discourages investors, generators and job creators from investing. That's why I've made clear the Labor party is prepared to put aside its preferred option, our choice is an emissions intensity scheme to reform the electricity generation industry, we will put that to one side if the government says it will come to a clean energy target. We are happy to compromise provided the clean energy target is fair dinkum." Shorten said the sooner the government can get on with policy the sooner it will unlock investment and with investment comes energy certainty and with energy certainty comes downward pressure on prices. "You cannot be fair dinkum about energy prices in this country unless you have a commitment to a clean energy target," he said. Xenophon: "It will scar us as a nation" Senator Nick Xenophon echoed Shorten's concern over a policy vacuum.

"Because we haven't had a coherent energy policy nobody invests and it pushes prices up," he told the summit on Friday. "Unless we do something about energy policy and bring our prices down, particularly for heavy users such as manufacturing, I think we are going to plunge the country into recession." Mr Xenophon said he doesn't want to get accused of scare mongering but he already knows of businesses which are being driven out of Australia. "There are two businesses I have spoken to recently, between them their gas bill is $50 million, one is in South Australia and one is on the east coast," he said. "They have told me they might be able to limp on for a year or two but eventually they will have to go offshore. Make no mistake, unless we get our costs down substantially you are going to see so many manufacturers leave and so many people lose their jobs. It will scar us as a nation." Follow MySmallBusiness on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.