A leading national business group has called on Canberra and Victoria to consider an unprecedented "emergency intervention" to keep the Hazelwood coal power plant running due to escalating concern about electricity supply and prices.

The extraordinary call by the Australian Industry Group comes just a week before the ageing coal-fired plant – Australia's dirtiest, but which has provided up to a quarter of Victoria's electricity generation - is scheduled to close.

Industry observers said it was unlikely the group thought Hazelwood could be kept open, but was using its closure to illustrate what it sees as the severity of the situation, and hoping to prompt government action.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said its 60,000 members were not convinced that the risks faced by energy users were being effectively managed.