"The greatest invention of the 20th century was electricity, and here in the 21st century we are being told to feel guilty about using the blasted stuff," Mr McLaren said yesterday on the eve of big hikes in electricity tariffs.

Country Energy's electricity tariff will rise by 18.1 per cent from today, but Mr McLaren thinks the effect of the jump is closer to 20 per cent, leading to nearly a doubling of electricity prices over the past four years.

"The price of electricity has risen 80 per cent since 2007," he said.

Mr McLaren, of the Shadforth Financial Group, said despite valiant attempts by people to cut back on energy consumption he thinks they will still be dismayed when their quarterly bills are affected by the new tariffs.

"People are going to reduce their energy consumption by 10 per cent and their bills will go up 20 per cent and they will think their cutbacks have been for nothing," he said.

Mr McLaren said the "number one golden rule" for people to help cope with the rising cost of living was to budget and to stick to the budget.

While acknowledging the real economic pain Australians are now enduring, Mr McLaren is keeping the situation in perspective.

"The poorest 10 per cent of Australians are still wealthier than 90 per cent of the world's population," he said.

The official inflation rate is 3.3 per cent, but Mr McLaren thinks big increases in the cost of living are being masked by a high Australian dollar that is making non-essential imported items, such as plasma televisions, cheaper.

"Locally produced goods that are essential ? such as food ? are going up quite a bit," Mr McLaren said.

Business coach Jeremy Hutchings said higher operating costs were also unavoidable for businesses.

"I think that challenges us, as business operators, to genuinely sharpen up our skills get on the front foot."