Draft legislation that aims to stamp out misconduct in the energy market, with the hope that customers will see the savings, passed the House of Representatives this week and will now be examined by a Senate committee.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has argued that threatening to force energy companies to divest generators or other parts of their business was necessary to stop what the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said was anti-competitive behaviour, and improve results for customers.

"From price gouging to failure to pass on savings to customers - this new legislation, if passed, will put Australians back in charge of their power bills and cut out the bad behaviour we have seen in the energy market," he said.

Dr Haines voted in favour of the "big stick" legislation, but said she did so with reservations so she could work with, rather than against, the government.

"Sadly, I fear that this bill risks undermining the good work the government has done, in fact, to lower prices," she said.

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Her worry was that three major studies conducted by the government had refuted the claim that the approach would lower prices - including an ACCC inquiry launched by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in 2017 when he was treasurer.

Dr Haines said the inquiry found there was no "deliberate manipulation" that was causing wholesale prices to go up, but the largest contributor was network costs - which the government's current bill does not address.

"But what concerns me about this bill is not only that it might fail to address the real problems in the electricity sector, but also that it might threaten investment in new energy infrastructure in our regions," she said.

"My electorate of Indi, like most in Australia, is not a fossil fuel electorate - instead, we are a renewable electorate."

She said the CSIRO estimated $400 billion of investment energy generation would be needed over the next 30 years to replace ageing coal plants.

"The best thing we can do to drive down prices is to bring on this investment in the cheapest form of power we have and create a policy framework that incentivises investment in storage and firming to support the integration of those renewables," Dr Haines said.