The medical cooling or heating concession provides a bill discount to eligible customers who have, or live with a person who has, a medical condition that requires the cooling or heating of the customer's principal place of residence in order to manage that condition.
From 1 July 2025, the concession is 52.975 cents per day or $193.36 per year (GST inclusive).
Customers must be eligible to receive the annual electricity concession to qualify for the medical cooling or heating concession.
Eligibility
The applicant must:
- be a resident of Tasmania;
- be the electricity account holder;
- reside at the address on the application form, which must be the applicant's principal place of residence that requires heating or cooling in order to manage their medical condition;
- hold a current Pensioner Concession Card (issued by Centrelink or Department of Veterans' Affairs) or a current Health Care Card (issued by Centrelink);
- have or live with a person who has a qualifying medical condition that requires heating or cooling to stop their symptoms becoming significantly worse; and
- provide certification from their medical specialist or general practitioner that the medical condition is significantly worsened by extremes in hot or cold temperatures.
Qualifying medical conditions
To be eligible for the medical cooling or heating concession, the person residing at the residence must:
- have a medical condition with evidence-based association with the deterioration of this condition in temperature extremes; and
- have experienced worsening of their symptoms with temperature change.
To be eligible for the concession, the patient’s treating medical practitioner must certify that the patient is suffering from:
-
one of the following core medical conditions;
OR
-
meets at least one primary
AND one secondary qualifying condition.
Medical certification is required every four years
Examples of core medical conditions that qualify for the medical cooling or heating concession include, but are not limited to:
Autoimmune system dysfunction (medical conditions in which the autoimmune system has been damaged, such as severe spinal cord injury, stroke, brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders).
Loss of skin integrity or loss of sweating capacity, such as significant burns greater than 20 per cent, severe inflammatory skin conditions and some rare forms of disordered sweating.
Objective reduction of physiological functioning at extremes of environmental temperatures.
Hypersensitivity to extremes of environmental temperatures leading to increased pain or other discomfort or an increased risk of complications, such as advanced peripheral vascular disease.
- Severe immobility, such as occurs with quadriplegia or high level paraplegia, resulting in problems with self-regulation of body temperature due to loss of sympathetic nervous system control.
- Demonstrated significant loss of autonomic regulation of sweating, heart rate or blood pressure due to the effects of extremes of temperature.
- Demonstrated loss of physiological function or significant aggravation of clinical condition at extremes of environmental temperature.
How to apply
Retail customers
The concession is applied as a daily discount and appears as a credit on the customer’s electricity bill. The concession will be paid from the date the electricity retailer receives the completed application form. The amount credited on each bill depends on the number of days in each billing cycle and the date of application.
To apply for the medical cooling or heating concession:
- contact your retailer for more information on how to apply; OR
- complete the Medical cooling or heating concession application(also available from your electricity retailer and Service Tasmania) and have it medically certified by the treating medical practitioner; and
- send the form to your electricity retailer.
The State Revenue Office cannot accept and approve applications, it is the responsibility of your electricity retailer.
Embedded network customers
Concessions to embedded network customers are paid on an annual basis. For more information or to apply, please visit a Service Tasmania outlet or the Service Tasmania website.
Change in circumstance
Concession recipients must notify the electricity retailer immediately of any changes to your address or eligibility to receive the concession. Failure to notify changes may result in payment being suspended.