Australian companies aiming for renewables

The RE100 global initiative brings together companies aiming for 100 per cent renewable energy, coordinating their investments to help drive demand for such sources.

Head of RE100 Sam Kimmins says the more than 150 member companies have a total investment pool of more than $100 billion.

Companies like IKEA, Google, Apple, H&M have experience navigating the renewable energy market and are now sharing the information with others, Mr Kimmins told AAP ahead of Thursday's industry forum.

"Renewables are really cheap, the technology has now achieved the promise of the last few years."

The cost of solar had decreased by about 80 per cent in the past seven years and was trending lower, he added.

"Companies like Mars in Australia are saying, 'we can get our power from a solar plant more cheaply than we can from the main utility, so let's do that.'

"And that's what's happening around the world."

Furniture company IKEA owns more wind turbines than stores, and LEGO sources electricity from a windfarm off the coast of England, he added.

The Australian Energy Market Commission on Thursday launched a further mechanism to lower electricity prices, allowing customers to conduct meter self-reads to reduce the risk of inaccurately estimated bills.

Under the existing rules, energy retailers can estimate a customer's bill in certain circumstances, but inaccurate overestimates of a customer's usage can lead to higher than expected bills.

Disputes over inaccurate readings are one of the most frequent sources of customer complaint.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor will meet with his state and territory counterparts in Sydney on Friday.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called on Labor to back the government's "big stick" approach to forcing energy companies to drop power prices.

"They are lining up with the big energy companies, refusing to support the action that we are going to take," he told reporters on Thursday.

Australian Associated Press