Labor climate spokesman Chris Bowen will liken the demands of hardline National Party net zero opponents to Venezuelan socialists while also opening the door to supporting a national plan to pay electricity generators to maintain extra capacity for the grid – a move critics fear will keep coal and gas plants alive too long.

Mr Bowen will tell The Australian Financial Review Energy & Climate Summit on Monday that he has taken “seriously” a recommendation in August from the Energy Security Board chairwoman Kerry Schott for a reliability mechanism.