Peter Dutton also declines to say whether he would back a further extension of household energy bills rebates if he wins coming election

Hundreds of thousands of households face higher power bills after the energy regulator proposed lifting benchmark prices by up to 9% in some regions.

The move prompted the energy minister on Thursday to concede power bills are “too high” and urge users to shop around for the best deal, while the opposition branded the price rise a failure of Labor’s energy policy.

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