The coalition says it will bring down power prices through its domestic gas plan, but will not say how much each household will be better off.

Households won’t be given an estimate to how much they would save on their power bills under a coalition plan to force energy exporters to set aside gas for the domestic market.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the coalition would establish an east coast domestic gas reserve to keep more of the energy source in the country and reduce power bills.

Coalition campaign spokesman James Paterson said while modelling would show gas prices would be cheaper, how much each household would save would not be provided.

“We say it’ll get down to about $10 a gigajoule, but we’re not going to make a specific household price promise, because we’re not going to lie to the Australian people,” he told ABC’s Insiders program.

“We don’t think that’s an adult or decent way to engage with the Australian public.”

Labor had said it would offer power price reductions of $275 before the 2022 federal election, but energy prices soon rose after the war in Ukraine and increasing inflation, which the coalition had prosecuted over the parliamentary term.

Starting the second day of the federal election campaign in Canberra, Anthony Albanese said more gas would be kept in Australia in a bid to lower energy prices.

“The future of our energy supply in Australia is renewables, but backed up by firming capacity of gas, hydro and batteries,” he told Insiders.

“Peter Dutton can’t explain anything about his policies, how it will work, how it will make a difference.

Later speaking at a home in Canberra’s inner-north, Mr Albanese said gas prices had come down.

“The spot price is at $13, when we were elected it was $30, it’s a bit lower than $30. We’ve taken action, we’ve increased supply and what we have done is work those issues through,” he said.

Mr Dutton, who will spend the second day of campaigning in Sydney, said opposition to the reservation policy from gas companies meant it was a win for consumers.

“If we can get that natural gas into the domestic market, if we can increase supply, then we will bring prices down,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

“There’s a lot of gas that gets sold into the international market, beyond that which we think should be put back into the domestic market.”

The coalition has pledged it would also speed up approval processes for gas projects to get more of the energy into the market.

It comes after the first full day of campaigning saw both camps targeted by protesters from climate activism group Rising Tide.

Security will be beefed up to prevent further intrusions, with Senator Paterson saying it was concerning more police were being diverted.

“These ratbag protesters who are turning up at events might think they’re being clever, but all they’re going to do is make our politicians more removed from the public,” he said.

“I don’t think we want to move to a style of politics we see in some other countries, where our political leaders are cocooned in a security bubble and can’t interact with Australians.”

The prime minister said he had full confidence in the federal police.

Mr Dutton said voters will “see through” the messages of protesters.

“It distracts for a little while from the main messages. But for us, it’s about getting a message out in relation to managing the economy,” he said.