Winter claims businesses left in the cold by proposed power price hike

However, the government says it remains committed to ensuring power prices remain the lowest in the nation.

The proposed 15 per cent increase to TasNetworks' pole and line fees is yet to be approved by the Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator.

However, hospitality operator Darren Brown said, if approved, the increase would eat into his income at a time when customers were few and far between.

"You budget fairly heavily for all these things at the start of the the year expecting it to be what the budget is, and then a new tax, if you like, comes along," Mr Brown said.

"One of the things as a small business is you just don't find that money straightaway. You need more customers, you need to sell more beer, still more food to make it up.

"And those just at the moment, customers aren't and easy to come by when new customers were already noticing a downturn for winter, the where our tourists are starting to start to slow down."

Labor's cost of living spokesman Josh Willie said the amount worked out to $113 for households and $299 for small businesses.

He said it was "giving with one hand and taking it back with the other", as the increase would account for most of the state government's Renewable Energy Dividend payments - $250 for households and $300 for small businesses.

"A lot of Tasmanians won't expect this additional cost until they get their bill. It'll be a shock to them," Mr Willie said.

"We already know that Tasmanians right across the state are struggling with the cost of living. It is a crisis and to have more fixed charges from the network charging their bill will come as a shock."

Opposition Leader Dean Winter said the party was not being "negative for the sake of being negative", rather Tasmanians needed certainty about how much their bills would amount to, especially as the increase was above the rate of inflation.

"If the plan is to continue to increase prices at 15 per cent every year, then that's going to put incredible pressure onto Tasmania households and small businesses," Mr Winter said.

"We don't need that at the moment.

"We've already got an economy where 5000 jobs have been lost in the last 12 months. We've got some instability in the parliament, we've got a slow winter coming up with the tourism season really slowing down now."

Liberal member for Braddon Felix Ellis said the opposition's "sums didn't add up", and that Tasmanian power prices remained "the lowest in the country".

"What we're delivering is a $250 supercharged renewable energy dividend for all Tasmanian households and also for Tasmanian small businesses," Mr Ellis said.

"We've seen the federal government also looking to contribute in this space. Our goal is to make sure that Tasmania remains with the lowest power prices in the country.

"Sadly, we're seeing from Labor a new leader, but the same whinger."