The pre-election power struggle between National and Labour is likely to see sparks fly over the price of electricity.
Housing affordability and the ease with which people could buy their first homes were also contentious areas, Labour's energy spokesman David Shearer said.
He was on a fact-finding visit to Whangarei yesterday, including meeting senior Northpower staff to talk about power supply, costs and the use of alternative resources.
He accused the Government of being out of touch with ordinary New Zealanders and ignoring "totally unreasonable" power price increases - up to 5 per cent in some areas last month alone.
In reply, Energy Minister Simon Bridges, who had earlier flagged that power hikes would be around 2.4 per cent, has accused Mr Shearer of "scaremongering".
Mr Shearer said Labour would "unbundle" power bills so consumers knew exactly how much they were paying their power generation and their lines companies.
Mr Shearer said those companies were in a position to lead the research and development of alternative power but were not doing enough. Auckland power company Vector was doing more than most on developing solar energy supply using battery storage, he said.
Labour would push for greater household use of battery-stored solar energy and other renewable power, including thermal and wind. "The cost of solar power and its set-up has to be more affordable," Mr Shearer said.
Labour also supported the development of primary-based industries near the source of power generation to cut costs, encourage adding value to raw products and boosting local employment.
Housing was another issue close to Labour's heart and the party was concerned lower income working families in regions such as Northland would be hit by the Government's policy to reduce state housing outside the major cities, he said.
Forcing all first home buyers to come up with a 20 per cent deposit to combat house price rises in Auckland and Christchurch had been a "disaster" and penalised people in regions like Northland.