High numbers of Australian households are having their electricity disconnected due to extreme financial distress.

New modelling by the St Vincent de Paul Society suggests the high cost of power is not the sole reason that lights are being switched off across the country.

The modelling used AGL data to look at electricity disconnections in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and south-east Queensland.

It showed that towns in rural New South Wales and outer Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide suburbs had seen the most disconnections in the past three years.

Orange and Dubbo in New South Wales, Werribee and Corio to Melbourne's west, and Hebersham in western Sydney showed particular high rates of disconnection.

Gavin Dufty, St Vincent de Paul Society's manager of policy and research unit, has told reporters that power prices alone are not the reason more people struggle to pay their bills.

“We thought there would be a stronger relationship between energy price changes and disconnections. That doesn't appear to be the case,” he told the ABC.

“I think the story out of this is that energy is just one part of a household budget and people struggle with mortgage costs, rental costs, transport costs and a number of other things.”