High energy costs will underpin a drive by the new owner of Arrium to generate its own power at its sites, where possible.

British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta outlined some more of his hopes for the Arrium group of businesses during a visit to the sprawling OneSteel plant at Laverton North in Melbourne's west on Wednesday, where he met management, mingled with staff in high-viz gear in the cafeteria and toured the plant.

Mr Gupta, who has closely followed the political debate in Australia about energy, said Australian energy costs were "very high" and could act as a deterrent.

But he said his business planned to make investments to produce as much of its own energy as possible.

"The cost of energy at this plant, where we're sitting, is too high. That needs to change. But we will change that ourselves, rather than looking to the government to change it," he said.

Asked how he would address energy costs at Laverton North, he said: "By investing in our own energy, as we've done in the UK."

Mr Gupta said the first energy priority at Whyalla in South Australia was to make investments so that more power was produced using waste gases from the plant.

"That waste gas can generate enough power to feed the rolling mills," he said. "That's priority number one."

He has already flagged plans to generate pumped hydro electricity at Whyalla, by using disused mine pits in the area to store water, which would then be pumped as needed. This approach was likened to "using the pits as batteries", by the prominent British industrialist. GFG Alliance has also flagged possible investment in large-scale solar energy in South Australia.

In an interview with Fairfax Media at the Laverton North plant Mr Gupta revealed that he would make Australia a "second home" for him and his family in the wake of the GFG Alliance's purchase of Australian steelmaker Arrium.

"Yesterday I spent two hours going around Sydney looking at all different localities trying to work out where I would like to live," he said.

Mr Gupta said that in the early months he would be spending more time in Australia than in London, where he lives with his wife and three children.

"I'm already looking for a residence, I'm already bringing my family over, getting them to spend some time here and so on, and we'll see how it progresses. It will certainly be their second home, from now on," he said.

Mr Gupta described the Laverton North facility, which recycles scrap metal to make reinforcing bar and other steel products for construction and manufacturing, as a "world class plant ... It fits in right central into our green steel model".

"It's central to our strategy, so it will remain core. We'll see how we can expand it a bit, maybe better capacity utilisation, expansion of product lines and so on, we'll see how we can develop it," he said.

The British industrialist also said he was interested in buying other distressed businesses in Australia. Asked if he had an eye on any particular businesses, he said: "Several, which are being examined." But he didn't name them.