AUSTRALIANS face further electricity price rises and even strains on the grid as the political brawl over the carbon tax fosters uncertainty among power generators and the clean energy sector, experts have warned.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott came under increased pressure yesterday over his warnings to business against planning for any long-term involvement in a carbon price and his vow to scrap every plank of the carbon tax, including the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which would fund green technology.

The backlash came as the government was forced to swiftly correct comments from a public servant to a parliamentary hearing that suggested the $10 billion green fund would hit the federal government's budget bottom line - a statement the opposition seized on as evidence of a budget black hole.

Experts and some industry leaders said yesterday that the Coalition's fierce rhetoric of recent days and the uncertainty it was creating meant the energy industry could not plan investment and could not hedge against carbon price fluctuations by buying future-dated carbon permits.

Clare Savage, interim CEO of the Energy Supply Association of Australia, said that without future-dated permits, energy suppliers could not make long-term contracts with their customers, which would push up prices. ''Any issues with purchasing forward carbon permits will drive up electricity prices unnecessarily,'' she said. ''It is a problem for us, what the opposition is doing. We make 40 or 50-year investments and they're not even giving us five years of information.''