Power bills for Victorians have soared one year on from the abrupt closure of the ailing Hazelwood power station but the state has managed to dodge large-scale blackouts and greenhouse gas emissions have dived.

With fewer than six months to prepare for the demise of the brown coal-fired plant in the Latrobe Valley, authorities had to scramble to minimise the blow from the loss of one-fifth of the state's generation capacity.

Hazelwood has been shut for a year. Credit:Carla Gottgens

Average household power bills were up almost 16 per cent this financial year, from a year earlier, to $1275, the Australian Energy Markets Commission said.

The good news, though, is the surge will begin to ebb, with residential users likely to cough up $1075 a year by 2019-20. (And as the AEMC noted, in 2016-17, a representative consumer on a standing offer could have saved more than the increase - about 23 per cent or $330 - by shopping around.)