If there had been any doubt about the importance of electricity privatisation in this election it was dispelled when Mike Baird and Luke Foley went head to head for the first time.

The leaders jousted over how Baird's plan to privatise the state's poles and wires  would will affect household power bills.

Voters have one advantage in assessing the claims made about this privatisation plan because NSW is not the first state to do it. Both Victoria and South Australia privatised their electricity distribution networks years ago and so provide useful case studies.

However, you probably won't be surprised to hear that Baird and Foley have different interpretations of what has happened in those states since their electricity networks were sold off.

Foley used figures from the Australian Energy Regulator to claim South Australian consumers "have the highest retail prices in Australia". He referred to data showing average household power bills in South Australia were nearly $300 more than in NSW. He also said Victoria had the "highest retial margins" for electricity in the country.

But Baird says quoting retail prices – the final cost to consumers – was misleading. His proposal is to lease the state's electricity distribution network – the so-called polls and wires – and they are only one component of the final electricity bills paid by consumers.

Baird highlighted the findings of a recent consultant report – commissioned by the NSW government – that found network prices in Victoria and South Australia have fallen in real terms since privatisation in the 1990s. During the same period network prices in NSW have risen by 122 per cent in real terms, said Baird. He accused Labor of running "a campaign of fear and scare".

Baird's claims received a influential endorsement this month when the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, said electricity prices in NSW would be lower now had the network companies been privatised five years ago.

Even so, the nuances of electricity pricing are likely to be lost on the vast majority of voters. Opinion polls suggest most remain deeply suspicious of privatisation.