An extra $20 million will be invested in Victoria's large-scale energy storage, the State Government says, as it works to address the state's increasing energy needs.

The funding will help companies that specialise in battery, pumped hydro or solar thermal technology partner with network businesses to boost storage to 100 megawatts by the end of next year.

A 20 megawatt battery could power a town the size of Bendigo or Ballarat for up to four hours during a period of peak demand and avoid outages, the Government said.

The Government also announced a new cabinet taskforce to work on energy affordability, which will meet for the first time today.

Victoria's announcement comes as the South Australian Government said it would spent $500 million on a "dramatic intervention" to secure its electricity supply, including plans to build and operate a 250-megawatt gas-fired plant to provide power grid stability and for emergency power needs.

On Monday, The Grattan Institute released a report which found competition in electricity retailing was failing consumers nationwide, and that governments needed to step in.

The report found in Victoria, retailers were claiming a margin of around 13 per cent, which is more than double the margin considered fair.

'Consumers will drive change'

Energy Consumers Australia chief executive Rosemary Sinclair said everyday users had been ignored in energy policy.

"I think the issue is that we've not been thinking about energy policy from the point of view of the consumer," she told ABC Radio Melbourne.

"We think about it from the point of view of a range of vested interests, people that have a particular lens on their part of the energy sector.

"We haven't at the policy level been thinking about how all these bits and pieces integrate to deliver the best outcome for consumers, so that consumers are not paying any more than they need to for high-quality energy services."

Ms Sinclair said consumers would drive changes in the industry by taking greater ownership of their power.

"What's happened here is the prices of electricity have risen so much that the consumers have reacted by saying\, 'That's out of control. I don't know who's managing that, but what can I do to manage to get control back on these costs'".

"At the moment, the cost of solar panels and batteries are falling to such a degree that consumers are saying 'Well I can do that. I'll put panels on the roof and batteries next to the wall and I'll be back in charge'".

"I think what we're seeing is consumers saying we no longer accept orthodoxy in a range of policy areas. I think that is a very big message to the whole industry here."