The NSW government recently announced it had signed at 99-year lease of the company with a majority foreign consortium, for about $10 billion.

The state government expects to receive about $8 billion in profit from the sale once the debt attached to TransGrid is paid off.

There have been concerns the winning consortium overpaid for the electricity company Transgrid, which has prompted wariness about how the partners will generate returns on their investment.

The ETU expects electricity prices to steadily rise for consumers.

Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said it didn’t matter who owned the company, as electrical prices were fixed by the Australia Energy Regulator (AER).

But ETU secretary Steve Butler said the AER only regulated the network charges – not the retail charges.

“Retail charges are what the punter pays at the pump,” Mr Butler said.

“There used to be a cap on how much companies could charge people for electricity, but that cap was removed under Barry O’Farrell.

“Now companies charge people as much as they think they can get away with – there is nothing there to motivate them to pass on any savings they get from low network charges.”

Mr Butler also said he didn’t have faith in the five-year job guarantee promised for workers at TransGrid.

“It’s an arbitrary promise – if they decided to move their head office to Melbourne, there would be job losses,” he said.

Mr Marshall said the lease of the state’s electricity network was a “win-win” situation for regional NSW, which would get 30 per cent of the lease’s proceeds.

“The good news for us in the bush is the lease is for companies who largely cover metro areas,” Mr Marshall said.

“Essential Energy stays 100 per cent publicly owned and I fought very hard to keep it that way.

“We’ve clipped the ticket, if you like, and will get 30 per cent of the profits from the long-term lease.”