Small business backs energy credit proposal, Labor unconvinced

Tidal Cafe owner Jack Davern said the $300 energy bill relief for small businesses - which the Liberal's have promised should they remain in government post-election - would "take the pressure off".

"Having that money back would be half my weekly wage covered, which means I can support other small businesses," Mr Davern said.

"Energy is a fair consumption [of our expenditure] and if you break it down it's about 10 per cent of your profits - it doesn't sound like a lot but to the overall bottom line, that's massive.

"The only way to plug the holes like these is price rises, which is something we don't want to do."

Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced the energy bill credits yesterday as part of a re-elected Liberal government's continuation of the renewable energy dividend announced last year - a bill

"[This] is all about taking action now on the issues that are affecting Tasmanians," Premier Rockliff said.

The energy credits are proposed for distribution this financial year to 35,000 small businesses as well as credits of $250 dollars to 240,000 households.

But the Tasmanian Labor party said the election promise is "an admission that power prices have gone up by too much on [the government's] watch."

"Today's energy announcement by the Liberals is too little, too late," Labor's energy spokesperson Dean Winter said.

"Every election the Liberals try this play, and after every election, power prices go up - making the cost-of-living crisis worse."

Labor announced a $400 benefit to Tasmanian households and small businesses as an election promise on March 23, which the Liberal party said had yet to be costed.

"Our policy has been sent to Treasury for independent analysis today and it is real and deliverable," Energy Minister Nick Duigan said.

However, Mr Winter said this was not the case and that the costs for the policy would come straight from Hydro Tasmania's "super profits' - a similar proposed scheme to the Liberal's, which itself comes from Hydro''s profits when the state-owned company returned more than $100 million in dividends on any particular year.

"You can have hydro Tasmania making hundreds of millions of dollars worth of super profits at the expense of Tasmania and households, or you can have Tasmanians paying Tasmanian prices for Tasmanian power," Mr Winter said.