Small businesses will have to raise their prices to recoup higher energy costs under an emissions trading scheme (ETS), the federal government says.

The opposition on Monday highlighted the case of a dry-cleaning business in Queanbeyan, near Canberra, in southern NSW.

The business now pays $15,000 a year for its electricity but will pay at least $3000 more owing to sharply higher energy prices once Labor's planned carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS), also known as the ETS, goes into operation from July 1, 2011.

While many households will be compensated for higher energy and food bills, small business misses out.

Junior climate change minister Greg Combet says businesses will need to recoup the higher costs from consumers.

"The costs faced by such a business will be passed through in the prices of that dry-cleaning business," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

The assistance package for households had been modelled extensively by Treasury, he said.

©2010AAP