Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has fired a salvo on energy prices ahead of Friday’s announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of a May 3 election, with a promise to force more export gas into the domestic market to drive down power bills.

As Albanese prepared to visit Governor-General Sam Mostyn on Friday to launch a five-week campaign, Dutton used his reply to this week’s budget to promise lower power prices under the Coalition through his “national gas plan”.