Last month 25,000 of the state government's low-paid public servants and council workers quietly received a "safety net" increase up to $32 a week courtesy of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

It comes as a record number of Queensland homes – 25,305 - were disconnected from their electricity supplier in 2013-14 because they could not pay the electricity bill.

This is more electricity disconnections than the previous record in 2010-11, when Queensland was hit by floods and natural disasters.

Queensland's public servants receive an annual 2.2 per cent wage increase as part of their core bargaining agreement.

However inflation is running at 3.2 per cent in Brisbane according to the state government's own figures and wages are falling behind.

About 25,000 workers – administration workers up to A05, technical and clerical workers and some blue-collar workers – from September 1 received a 3 per increase to their award wage to cover the gap.

The safety net wage increase normally sits underneath the award wages, but Together Union state secretary Alex Scott said award wages in Queensland were now falling behind the safety net.

"What's happened is that, before the 3 per cent wage increase that the state wage case handed down on September 1, some of the public service rates had been depressed so much by Campbell Newman that they were less than the 3 per cent above the award rates," he said.

Mr Scott said the government was embarrassed the safety net increase was needed to keep pace with inflation.

"The government isn't telling public servants that their pay has gone up because they are deeply embarrassed," Mr Scott said.

"Their promise to have wages keep touch with inflation is so broken now that the public servants are relying on the unions to get increases through the award safety net (rather) than being able to negotiate an outcome in line with inflation for core public servants."

The Queensland Government said it would reply on Tuesday after reviewing the wages situation.

The impact on real wages was noted by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission in its ruling on August 24, which came into effect on September 1.

"Last year the Commission noted that in recent years the Queensland Minimum Wage has not kept pace with real wage growth, measured by the average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE)," the report said.

Queensland Council of Social Services chief executive Mark Henley said there was no doubt the cost of living increases were hitting a wider cross-section of Queenslanders.

"We are seeing the cost of essentials like energy, transport and health – in those key areas – is increasing at a significant rate and putting further pressure on people and families," Mr Henley said.

QCOSS' most recent cost of living study – released in November 2013 – shows a low-paid family with two adults and two children was now losing $5 a week compared to the cost of living.

QCOSS' newest cost of living report is due next month.

Household electricity prices increased by $260 a year in 2013-14 and will rise by $192 in 2014-15.

Mr Henley said the data showed the cost of living had increased more than people were expecting.

"Those essential services are all increasing at a significantly higher rate than what the CPI is and it is putting enormous pressure on families," he said.

Queensland public service enterprise bargaining agreements included a 2.2 per cent annual increase in December 2013, December 2014 and December 2015.

The recent 3 per cent increase in the "safety net" goes to around 25,000 employees in all government departments outside Queensland Health, council workers outside Brisbane and includes 4000 employees in Queensland's 1250 parents and citizens associations.

The Local Government Association of Queensland opposed the 3 per cent "safety net" increase, arguing instead for a 2.5 per cent increase.

The three Industrial Commissioners said the LGAQ's submission contained "typographical" errors that wrongly suggested Queensland debt was $70 million, not $80 billion and "no rationale or explanation" for saying an increase over 2.5 per cent "would compound debt pressures on the Queensland Government."

Deputy President Kaufman said the three state commissioners agreed with the ruling by the national wage commissioners in June 2014 that a "modest" 3 per cent wage increase would not hurt the economy.

"There is no evidence that minimum wage increases arising out of an annual review will have an adverse impact on productivity, at an aggregate level or at a firm level," the report says.

"The limited evidence before us suggests that minimum wage increases are more likely to stimulate productivity measures by some employers directly affected by minimum wage increases."