Greens leader Adam Bandt is calling on the federal government to consider his party's proposal, which would impose a windfall tax on the profits of coal and gas companies and use that revenue to cap the price of retail electricity bills.

It follows top Treasury officials backing a government intervention to drive down energy prices in the wake of soaring retail prices and profits for gas and coal companies spurred on by the war in Ukraine.

In a letter to Anthony Albanese on Wednesday, Mr Bandt asked the government to consider the proposal, adding it could make its way to the upper house before Christmas.

While Mr Albanese dismissed the suggestion in Question Time on Tuesday, saying it was "completely unclear" how such a market intervention could be staged, he and Treasurer Jim Chalmers have not ruled it out as a future measure.

But the Greens leader's letter outlined it could be accomplished with a temporary, two-year windfall tax on gas companies through amendments to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax along with a temporary super-profits tax on thermal coal.

The extra revenue made through the tweaks could be used to provide the consumer watchdog with additional resources and help homes and business to move away from fossil fuels.

"The plan would not dampen important investment in new clean energy generation," Mr Bandt wrote.

"The proposal would generate an additional $25 billion, and the excess revenue generated by the proposal could be used to help homes and small businesses electrify and move away from gas, thus lowering our exposure to longer term inflationary impacts and making households and the country more resilient to future global price spikes of coal, oil and gas."

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The Parliamentary Budget Office released its costings of the Greens' proposal, showing the tax would cover the measures and produce an additional $25 billion over the two years it's in place.

Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy, in a speech read out by deputy secretary Luke Yeaman, said unconventional responses should be used in light of recent world events shocking prices.

"In our view, such [war-driven price] shocks bring into scope government intervention," Mr Yeaman told estimates on behalf of his secretary on Tuesday.

"The current gas and thermal coal price increases are leading to unusually high prices and profits for some companies; prices and profits well beyond the usual bounds of investment and profit cycles.

"The same price increases are leading to a reduction in the real incomes of many people, with the most severely affected being lower income working households.

"Given the hopefully temporary nature of the energy shock, measures to address the price increases should also be temporary and regularly reviewed."

Treasury officials said Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Dr Chalmers had asked them to consider a range of solutions to the energy crisis.

The federal budget last month revealed energy prices are expected to rise more than 50 per cent as the rate of inflation hit 7.3 per cent - the highest since 1990.

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank raised its forecasts with inflation now expected to peak at 8 per cent later this year.

The central bank's governor Philip Lowe said inflation would likely decline next year to around 4.75 per cent with forecasts suggesting it will remain a little over 3 per cent in 2024.