The Turnbull government likes to call it an energy "trilemma" – how to meet the triple challenge of an affordable and reliable electricity system that also meets Australia's international obligations to cut emissions.

Its latest stab at the problem, though, is likely to fail on all three, not least because it treats the third leg of the stool as an optional extra.

Multiple recent reports by regulators have highlighted the challenges facing the power sector, ranging from emerging risks of blackouts during the coming summer to a 63 per cent jump in electricity prices after inflation in the past decade, as identified by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this week.

But it's been clear for months after the pushback from Malcolm Turnbull's Coalition MPs to the recommendations of a Clean Energy Target made by the Chief Scientist Alan Finkel in his major review, the first policy to go would be any serious commitment to Australia's Paris commitments to cut carbon.