TWEED residents and businesses may suffer from increased electricity prices if the NSW Government's power sell-off, announced this week, goes ahead.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said the move will only add to household electricity bills.

"Barry O'Farrell is set to slug households more than $550 a year on their electricity bills, an increase many families will be unable to afford," he said.

"The Premier needs to stop and think about the human cost of his power privatisation plans."

Mr Robertson said the move would also lead to more households being disconnected from the energy grid due to financial hardship.

"The Energy and Water Ombudsman revealed last week there has been an 18% increase in complaints from households who have been disconnected due to financial hardship," he said.

"These disconnections will continue to rise if the Premier proceeds with his plans to privatise the State's power stations and put upward pressure on prices."

NSW Greens MP John Kaye said the electricity sell-off would increase power bills and hurt the environment.

"Privatising the electricity generators means higher electricity bills, job losses, and the loss of public control over 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere every year," he said.

"There is no way that this can be argued as a success for the environment, a success for the economy or a success for jobs.

"This is a three-way loser."

Welcome In Cafe in Tweed Heads owner John Moyes said rising electricity prices are a constant worry to business owners.

"We have to turn a lot of appliances off at night but in the food game you have to keep things on.

"We have four fridges and two freezers," he said.

"Our business expenses keep going up but we have not increased our prices in 18 months.

"You cannot make the customer pay for the electricity increase."