Building seven nuclear power plants in five states is central to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
But with at least a decade to wait while the plants are built and voters impatient for cost relief, Mr Dutton has singled out gas as "the only way to drive down power prices quickly".
Redbridge Group director Tony Barry, a former Liberal Party strategist, said the coalition was trying to link energy costs and the economy.
"This is a very valid argument but also a very challenging one given its complexity to explain in a very fragmented media market," he told AAP.
The party's national gas plan includes an east coast reserve to force producers to divert more gas to the Australian market rather than sell it overseas.
Mr Dutton expects holding back more local supply to lower prices from $14 a gigajoule to $10 a gigajoule with cheaper gas a win for heating, cooking, manufacturing and electricity generation.
Yet he has refused to provide dollar figure savings for households and businesses, with detail on the plan thin on the ground.
Mr Barry said both sides were struggling to persuade soft voters their energy plans would cut emissions from the energy system and lower bills.
"All of our quantitative and qualitative research shows that whilst voters remain committed to the transition to renewable energy, they have developing concerns about its cost and energy security," he said.
"A majority of voters do not believe Australia will reach the government's emissions target."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said cutting emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, as promised and legislated, was achievable.
"We have a 2030 target. We're confident we'll meet it, and our policy is very clear ... our policy is for renewables, backed with affirming capacity of gas, batteries and hydro," he said on Monday.
Labor maintains renewables, backed up with storage, is the cheapest pathway to net zero in the long term but is haunted by a pre-election promise to cut bills by $275 by 2025 as per modelling produced by RepuTex.
Mr Albanese says the numbers were produced before Russia invaded Ukraine and sent shockwaves through energy markets.
The opposition has also been forced to defend the numbers crunched by Frontier Economics that underpin its nuclear plan, released in late 2024.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said there were "fundamental errors" in the nuclear energy analysis, including a minimal projected role for gas despite the opposition seemingly going all-in on the energy source.
"Peter Dutton is trying desperately to hide the true cost of his $600 billion nuclear scheme," he said.
Yet Mr Dutton said Labor's plan to "over-build the system" - that is, build extra renewable capacity for when there's no sunlight nor wind - was contributing to higher network costs and therefore, energy bills
"(Nuclear to back up renewables is) a much more efficient way of running the electricity system through which 19 of the top 20 economies are doing at the moment," he said on Monday.
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