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Power bills will surge by up to $600 annually for hundreds of thousands of Australian households under a new electricity price ceiling.

The default market offer, determined by the Australian Energy Regulator, fixes the maximum price retailers can charge customers in NSW, South Australia and southeast Queensland.

From July 1, residential customers will see price increases of 19.6 to 24.9 per cent, depending on their region.

NSW customers on the default offer can expect to see prices rise by between $440 and $594 annually, depending on their region, while relevant households in southeast Queensland could pay an extra $402.

In South Australia, residential customers can expect prices to increase by about $512.

Small business customers are facing rises of 14.7 per cent to 28.9 per cent.

About nine per cent of customers are charged the default market rate, which effectively acts as a safety net to ensure domestic users are not charged excessive amounts.

Most customers are on lower, discounted rates, but the default offer also serves as a benchmark for wider prices.

The regulator said high wholesale energy costs continued to drive up retail electricity prices.

Australian Energy Regulator chair Clare Savage said the agency considered the cost-of-living pressures faced by households and businesses, as well as the need for retailers to recover their costs.

"That's why it's important the (default offer) provides a safety net for those who might not have shopped around for a better power deal," she said.

The federal government wasted no time spruiking its interventions in the energy market, including price caps on wholesale coal and gas, saying it had insulated customers from even higher energy bills.

Government modelling suggests the market interventions have shaved $492 off the default offer price for residential customers and up to $1310 for small businesses.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen said customers were facing rises of between 40 and 50 per cent before the government took action.

"These are big increases, but as the regulator made clear, without the intervention of the Albanese government they would have been much bigger," he said.

The head of the energy regulator also confirmed the price caps had kept prices under control.

The federal government committed $3 billion towards direct energy price relief in the May budget.

But social welfare groups want the government to go further.

The head of the Australian Council of Social Service, Cassandra Goldie, said the price cap needed to be extended until 2025 and that the slated increases in income support wouldn't go far enough.

"Governments must step in to do more to provide income and debt relief now," she said.

The opposition has already attacked the government for failing to bring down energy prices.

Energy spokesman Ted O'Brien said the government couldn't claim the lower-than-forecast increase as a win after Labor came to power promising cheaper electricity bills.

"When the government says it could have been worse, it's the government comparing its set of dumb policies now to its really dumb policies only a few months ago," Mr O'Brien said.

Mr Bowen said the government had not given up on its pledge to reduce power bills by $275 by 2025, and would work to hasten to transition to renewable energy to bring prices down.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for the government to expedite investment in clean energy, saying small businesses were struggling to keep up with price hikes.

Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather said gas corporations needed to be slapped with a windfall tax, which could then be used to help struggling Australians.

In a game of winners and losers, the biggest winners were big gas corporations "making billions of dollars in war-time profits and continuing to drive up the price of energy bills for people across this country".

Consumer groups are using Australians to shop around and save ahead of the default market offer price changes coming into effect on July 1.

© AAP 2023

The NSW police officer who tasered a 95-year-old woman with dementia could have his charges upgraded after the great-grandmother died from her injuries.

Constable Kristian White was charged with three offences just hours before Clare Nowland died in Cooma Hospital on Wednesday night.

He was suspended with pay after tasering Mrs Nowland at the Yallambee Lodge aged-care facility in Cooma last week when she failed to drop a steak knife.

Mrs Nowland, who weighed just 43kg, clung to life for a week after sustaining critical injuries in the incident, including a fractured skull.

White, 33, is due to face court in July on three charges, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.

The most serious of the charges, recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

When asked at a press conference on Wednesday night if the charges might be upgraded, Police Commissioner Karen Webb said that was possible.

She described the tasering as "a nasty incident", but maintained the police investigation had been carried out properly and without prejudice.

"I am confident that this matter is before the court without interference," Ms Webb said.

She defended the decision to suspend White with pay, saying people were innocent until proven guilty.

"He's afforded the same opportunity as any other resident, and his employment will continue to be reviewed, but at the moment he's still suspended from the workplace," Ms Webb said.

Premier Chris Minns sent condolences to Mrs Nowland's children and grandchildren.

"This is a very traumatic event, and would have been particularly sad for that family," he told reporters on Thursday.

Mr Minns expressed confidence in Ms Webb after the opposition pressured the government to release police body-worn video of the incident.

Opposition MPs used parliamentary privilege on Wednesday to suggest police could be involved in a "cover-up".

"The opposition should be very careful about what they say in relation to a matter that is now before the courts," Mr Minns said.

"It's very important for police to be able to do their job, and the investigation should not be hindered by political interference."

The 95-year-old died peacefully, surrounded by family and loved ones, NSW Police said in a statement.

"Our thoughts and condolences remain with those who were lucky enough to know, love and be loved by Mrs Nowland during a life she led hallmarked by family, kindness and community," the statement said.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley also offered her condolences to the Nowland family.

"We will continue to offer support to the Nowland family as they mourn this loss, and we urge people to respect their privacy at this time," she said.

© AAP 2023

More than two years after conwoman Melissa Caddick mysteriously vanished, a coroner has found she died.

"I believe it is appropriate for me to say at the outset, I have concluded that Melissa Caddick is deceased," Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan said on Thursday.

"However, a more problematic issue is whether there is enough evidence as to how she died."

The long-running coronial examination delved into the circumstances leading to the 49-year-old Sydney fraudster's disappearance in November 2020 and her mindset at the time.

Caddick's badly decomposed right foot in a running shoe washed up on a beach on the south coast of NSW three months after her disappearance, leading authorities to presume her dead.

Police and investigators from corporate regulator ASIC raided Caddick's Dover Heights home on November 11 2020.

Two days later she was reported missing by her husband Anthony Kolleti

The inquest heard from a number of key witnesses including Mr Koletti, a part-time hairdresser and DJ, who told the court he had no knowledge of her Ponzi scheme.

The officer-in-charge of the investigation into her disappearance, Detective Sergeant Michael Foscholo, told the inquiry last year he believed the fraudster took her own life.

Caddick, a self-styled financial adviser, preyed on mostly friends and family to steal up to $30 million through her investment scam, using the money to fund her lavish lifestyle before disappearing.

Her eastern suburbs mansion was sold for close to $10 million in January.

A collection of jewellery, once owned by the fraudster, has also attracted large sums, with a recent auction garnering $800,000 that will go towards paying back victims.

Ms Ryan's findings are continuing.

© AAP 2023