Electricity users are being overcharged by as much as $3 billion due to the poor way the industry has been run, with power companies able to "cherry pick" the way the government regulates their spending plans.

And much of this burden has been borne by NSW consumers, with at least $2 billion of this due to allowing higher than necessary allowances for their borrowings.

ACCC boss Rod Sims blames spending on 'poles and wires' for the overcharging. Credit:AFR

In a strongly worded speech to an energy gathering, to be given today, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Mr Rod Sims, blames much of the rise in electricity prices - which have doubled in some parts of NSW over past few years - on unnecessary spending on "poles and wires" which has made up as much as half of the spending over the past five years.