The medical cooling or heating concession provides a daily 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.
The current concession is 51.906 cents per day (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 cooling or heating 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 cooling or heating 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 cold or hot 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 medical specialist or general 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.
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
To apply for the Medical cooling and heating concession:
NOTE: The State Revenue Office cannot accept and approve applications - this is the responsibility of your electricity retailer.
Concession payments
The concession is a daily discount and is represented as a credit on the electricity bill. Calculation of the concession paid on each bill will depend on the number of days in each billing cycle.
The concession will be paid from the date the electricity retailer receives the completed application form.
Renewals
Applicants are required to submit a new application form every two years and will be contacted by their electricity retailer prior to the date the current concession approval expires.
Applicants will also need to arrange for a medical specialist or general practitioner to complete a new medical certification form and will also need to confirm their concession card status and living arrangements in order to remain eligible for the concession.
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.