If re-elected this month, the Baird government will issue a 99-year lease on 50.4 per cent of its interest in electricity distributors Ausgrid and Endeavour and 100 per cent of the high-voltage transmission business, Transgrid.

In rural areas of NSW poles and wires operator Essential Energy, owner of Country Energy, will remain in full public ownership.

The Coalition has also launched new initiatives just days before the election regarding the leasing of the publicly owned infrastructure in a bid to sell the move to voters.

In response to the affordable housing crisis facing many voters, Mr Constance announced on Friday an “agreement between the Baird government and key social and infrastructure peak bodies, which will pave the way for a dedicated social and affordable housing fund that aims to hit the $1billion mark”.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) involves the Council of Social Service of New South Wales (NCOSS) and Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA).

 “The agreement is designed to use the once-in-a-life time opportunity of leasing the poles and wires to protect the community’s most vulnerable,” Mr Constance said.

“This MoU is the first step towards a new model for the building of new homes for those who need them most.”

Country Labor candidate for Bega Leanne Atkinson said over the weekend that Essential Energy had already cut its number of apprentices drastically from 129 to 30, and that “lines workers already fear 30 per cent jobs cuts in the electorate”.

“We cannot trust Liberal Party promises on quarantining Essential Energy, considering that the Premier himself has said that privatising all electricity assets would be a 'matter for the next Parliament',” Ms Atkinson said.

“The Liberals have already devastated the apprenticeship numbers at Essential Energy and more jobs will go in the privatisation process.

“Voters are understandably wary of promises from professional politicians that money, which we all know is being raised for Sydney projects, will be spent in regional electorates like Bega," she said.

A report released by leading academic economist Professor John Quiggin, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at Queensland University, said the move will weaken the state’s financial position.

“This policy package will substantially reduce the net financial worth of the NSW public sector, and contribute $1-2billion annually to the budget deficit,” the report claims.

A long-term critic of electricity privatisation in Australia, Professor Quiggin’s report titled “No Magic Pudding” expresses concerns towards many of the proposals characteristics with an analysis that the public will lose out in the long term.

"The fiscal loss to the public will therefore be at the upper end of the range observed in past privatisations," the report said.