Unions NSW has questioned the New South Wales Government over its decision to sell the state’s power plants, saying most residents want them to remain as public assets.

Union authorities say they are concerned what the benefit of the sale will actually be, with only two companies so far raising their interest.

Final bids to buy the state-owned Bayswater and Liddell power stations in the Upper Hunter are due on Wednesday, the same day as the expected release of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) report on concerns with the bid from AGL, having approved bids from ERM.

The New South Wales Government appears much more keen to sell than its residents, with Unions NSW’s Adam Kerslake claiming polls from last year show 80 per cent are opposed to the sale.

“There is very strong opposition, particularly in regional areas to the notion that you sell something that is government owned, government run too particularly foreign corporations who take the profits of those entities offshore instead of that money going to government,” he said.

“Huge, huge opposition right across the board.”

He says NSW should learn lessons from Victoria, which privatised its energy market in the nineteen-nineties.

“If anyone who wants to tell us it's a great idea to sell off our electricity assets, they should be required to show us very clearly how we benefit from it,” Mr Kerslake said.

“The consumers, the taxpayers and the people of Victoria have not benefited one bit from the privatisation of electricity in Victoria.

“I don’t think we're going to benefit here in NSW and people have a right to be concerned about it.”

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird says proceeds from the sale would be spent on infrastructure projects across the state, pending the approval of bids by the ACCC. He also says lessons should be learned from Victoria.

“Anyone that bids, it has to pass the competition regulators approval, so that means more competition will be coming in to the market and at the same time we've made very specific commitments to infrastructure across the state and that is our commitment,” Mr Baird said.

“The net proceeds go into the restart NSW account... for infrastructure across NSW,” he said.

“So we are doing all that we should, a sensible responsible government should and the experience in Victoria government suggests that there is downward pressure on prices as a result of the actions of the government withdrawing from the sector.”