In a letter to the management of Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy on Tuesday, ETU secretary Steve Butler says the union is willing to drop its initial claim of an 8 per cent wage rise over two years.

Instead it is proposing an annual 2.5 per cent increase over two years, but only if existing agreements are rolled over in their entirety, including a guarantee of no forced redundancies.

In his letter Mr Butler says the offer meets the government's current wages policy for public servants, which caps rises at 2.5 per cent.

He says it also "delivers necessary job protections in the face of the government's privatisation plans".

Premier Mike Baird has promised to lease to the private sector 50.4 per cent of Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy and all of transmission company Transgrid if his government is re-elected on March 28.

Last week staff at Ausgrid and Endeavour voted in support of industrial action following a postal ballot amid a break down in negotiations over their wage agreement which expired in December.

Treasurer Andrew Constance had previously described the 4 per cent a year claim as "greedy".

The electricity companies are facing deep job cuts after the Australian Energy Regulator's draft decision in November which proposes to slash their revenue they can raise by 30 per cent over the next four years.

Vince Graham, chief executive of the state-owned corporation which runs the companies, Networks NSW, has said this would spell the immediate loss of 4600 jobs. He has put a counter proposal to the regulator which would see 2200 jobs go over the period.

Ausgrid, Endeavour and Essential Energy - which is exempt from the government's privatisation plans - have begun canvassing expressions of interest for voluntary redundancies among their 9000 employees.