Renewable energy has been the ticket for prosperity for the most populous state after a no-frills budget, but its proposed gutting by conservatives is copping heat.
The NSW government announced a $557 million Home Energy Saver program as part of its budget to fund rooftop solar and home batteries for low-to-middle-income families.
Zero-interest loans can also be accessed for basic home improvements such as insulation, reverse-cycle air conditioning, switchboard upgrades and ceiling fans.
They are all geared toward lowering power bills.
On Wednesday, the coalition countered with its own centrepiece energy policy ahead of its budget reply on Thursday.
The Liberals and Nationals proposed abandoning a renewable energy zone in New England, devised during when they were last in government, for city REZs including in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong and one in the state's far west.
The coalition said their plan was more sound because the New England project was bogged by delays and cost blow-outs with no proper consultation with frustrated locals.
Premier Chris Minns criticised the coalition as pandering to disaffected voters turning toward One Nation.
"This is the first and most obvious sign of One Nation smashing coalition policy when it comes to these things and it will not be the last," he told parliament on Wednesday.
"To junk renewable energy programs in the state at the behest of Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce - that's the plan."
Mr Minns said the coalition's policy would turn away private investment needed for the state to return to a surplus of $1.1 billion in 2027/28.
Some $77 billion of private sector investment in clean energy is expected to be unlocked by 2035, the government says.
Nationals leader Gurmesh Singh shrugged off One Nation's sustained rise in the polls in the regions.
"They (One Nation) have yet to announce any candidates, any policies, any state directors, any infrastructure at all here in NSW, so we'll take every threat as they come, be it an orange threat, a teal threat, a green threat, or a red threat."
As with their federal colleagues, the party abandoned the 2050 net zero emissions target in late 2025, despite coalition partner the Liberals maintaining its position.
The budget comes as the federal Housing Minister Clare O'Neil said on Wednesday the nation's housing market was going through a correction after "extremely high house-price growth'' before the pandemic.
The state's budget housing reforms have been labelled modest by property groups due to their focus on championing cheaper and more efficient forms of construction over direct investment.
"We still have long way to go to get anywhere near to building the number of new homes needed to meet demand," NSW Housing Industry Association executive director Brad Armitage said.
NSW is on track to fall short of its target of 377,000 new homes by 2029 under the National Housing Accord.