Light-bulb moment on clean energy yet to come for many

Rooftop solar may be three times more common than the backyard pool but polling reveals a lack of understanding that experts fear could derail the energy transition.

In the run up to a federal election that could prove decisive for the nation's energy mix, the independent Climate Council on Thursday released polling that revealed the extent of the information gap.

"The concerning thing, particularly in the world we live in now, is the vacuum of knowledge - and there's plenty of misinformation that will fill it," Adelaide-based council fellow Professor Andrew Stock told AAP.

The survey showed overwhelming support for rooftop solar but larger-scale renewable energy generation and the impact that was having on reducing power bills was less well understood, Prof Stock said.

Renewable energy sources are already powering around 40 per cent the main electricity grid - doubling in just six years - and are on track to account for more than 80 per cent by 2030.

"There is a risk that obfuscation and changing the market rules in the pursuit of nuclear will unsettle companies that want to make investments here," he said.

Many of those surveyed did not know the nation was already using big batteries to store renewable energy when it was abundant, to be released back into the electricity grid to support peak demand and avoid blackouts.

In addition, households have installed more than 100,000 home batteries for a combined storage double the size of Victoria's Big Battery which is one of the world's largest.

"They're reducing some of the load on the network, because they're soaking up the power when it's available from the sun, and it reduces their energy costs because they're using more of their own," Prof Stock explained.

Sydney-based climate councillor and economist Nikki Hutley told AAP the biggest problem was the economy remained so reliant on fossil fuels for export income, although there were more jobs in clean energy than coal and gas.

"There's so much misinformation and disinformation that goes out there - all the stuff about when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, which is really unhelpful when Australia has pioneered big batteries," she said.

It was also difficult for many to accept power bills were "less than they would have been" but not necessarily "lower", she added.

According to the Essential Research polling, the majority (81 per cent) want more information about how the energy system is changing.

Many either overestimated or underestimated the timeline for closing coal-fired power stations and a few considered gas (17 per cent) and coal (12 per cent) to be renewable energy.

More than half (56 per cent) underestimated how long clean energy had been running, with solar and wind farms dating back to the 1980s.

A majority could identify what was renewable - rooftop solar (65 per cent), large scale solar (56 per cent), onshore/offshore wind (56 per cent) - but there was less awareness of pumped hydro, green hydrogen and bioenergy.