TAS Life Support Concession — up to $901.68/yr electricity rebate by equipment type

What Is This Payment?

The TAS Life Support Concession is a per-equipment-type electricity rebate for Tasmanian households running clinically authorised medical life support equipment at home. It is recorded in the rule database as a monetary primary Group A rule with parent_cluster TAS Life Support Concessions, the energy-rebate cluster that funds the marginal electricity cost of medical equipment running 24/7 or overnight. The entitlement_scope is household over a financial_year, signalling that the rebate flows to the household electricity account rather than to an individual patient and resets each financial year.

The administering body is the Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance, delivering through the licensed electricity retailer (typically Aurora Energy in Tasmania). The intake channel is electricity_retailer — the patient lodges with their retailer, who applies the daily rebate as a credit on the bill once the department confirms the medical authorisation.

The rule's design intent is to offset the meaningful electricity cost of running essential medical equipment for low-mobility patients who cannot reduce their power consumption to compensate. A CPAP running 8 hours per night draws 30-50 watts and costs $80-$130 per year; a phototherapy unit running 18-20 hours per day draws considerably more. The Phase C lookup design recognises that flat $901 estimates over-stated the cost for low-power devices like CPAP and LVAD, where the actual daily cost is closer to 47 cents than 247 cents. Lifecycle: the rebate continues annually while the medical authorisation remains current.

How Much Can You Get?

The rule's amount.type is lookup with amount.period yearly, lookup_field = life_support_equipment_type, and the lookup_table mapping each accepted equipment value to its specific annual amount. Display_period is yearly. The rebate is credited daily on the retailer bill at the cents-per-day rate; the annual figure shown here is the daily rate × 365.

Complete 9-tier rebate table (sorted by annual rebate, high to low):

This is not a flat $901.68 for every patient. The Phase C type=lookup mechanism added in the 2025-26 rule version replaced the prior flat-rate model. The change matters most for CPAP users, whose realised value is $169.78 rather than the misleadingly-quoted $901. The rule engine now displays the truthful per-device amount and refuses to estimate for the five excluded device types.

Excluded device types (no rebate via this rule): feeding_pump, heart_pump, suction_pump, apnoea_monitor_child, and other. These five are not in the YAML lookup_table because Tasmania has not published a cents-per-day rate for them. Federal EMEP at $196 per device per year remains payable for these patients, providing residual support.

Audit recipe. First confirm state = TAS. Second confirm electricity_bill_account_holder = true. Third confirm specialist_medical_authorisation = true. Fourth read off the lookup_table value for the patient's life_support_equipment_type. Fifth recognise the rule has no conflicts, so the rebate stacks with federal EMEP at $196 per device and with other TAS energy concessions.

Eligibility Conditions

The eligibility block is an all set with four YAML items. There is no nested any branch.

1. Tasmanian residency: state = TAS. The rule is jurisdiction-locked. A patient who runs medical equipment at a Tasmanian holiday home but resides interstate does not qualify on the TAS rebate.
2. Electricity account holder: electricity_bill_account_holder = true. The rebate is credited daily to the retailer bill, so the patient or another household member nominated for credit must be the named account holder. Tenants whose landlord retains the electricity account in their own name fail this gate.
3. Specialist medical authorisation: specialist_medical_authorisation = true. A treating specialist (typically a sleep physician for CPAP, a nephrologist for dialysis, a respiratory physician for oxygen concentrators, a paediatrician for child phototherapy, a cardiologist for LVAD) signs an authorisation form documenting the device, the clinical indication, and the daily run-hours profile.
4. Listed equipment type: life_support_equipment_type in [oxygen_concentrator_child, cpap_machine, haemodialysis, peritoneal_dialysis, nebuliser, phototherapy, iron_lung, combo, lvad]. Nine equipment values exactly match the nine entries in the lookup_table. Equipment outside this list — feeding_pump, heart_pump, suction_pump, apnoea_monitor_child, "other" — fails the gate because no state-published cents-per-day rate exists.

Required fields: state, electricity_bill_account_holder, specialist_medical_authorisation, and life_support_equipment_type. The engine does not collect the daily run-hours or the device wattage — these live on the specialist's authorisation form rather than in the rule engine, and the cents-per-day rate is a state-published average rather than a per-patient computation.

The exclude, conflicts, and affects lists are all empty. The rebate stacks freely with federal EMEP, the TAS Annual Electricity Concession (where the patient also holds an accepted card), the TAS Medical Cooling/Heating Concession, and the time-limited Energy Bill Relief.

Two practical considerations apply. First, the rebate is daily-accrual, so a household switching retailers mid-year carries the rebate across providers but must re-lodge the medical authorisation. Second, the rebate is per-household not per-device — a household running both CPAP and haemodialysis claims under combo at $648.27 if the specialist authorises both devices on the same form.

How To Apply

Application metadata defines a single channel: electricity_retailer. The patient downloads the Life Support Concession application form from the Concessions Tasmania portal (or requests it from the retailer), asks the treating specialist to complete the medical authorisation section, and lodges with the retailer. The retailer transmits to the Department of Treasury and Finance, who validates and authorises the daily credit. Processing typically completes inside 4-6 weeks, with the credit backdated to the application date.

Evidence requirements listed in the rule are short:

• Medical practitioner certification — the treating specialist's completed authorisation form documenting the device, the clinical indication, the typical daily run-hours, and the specialist's provider number. The form is the central evidence document; the retailer does not request the patient's underlying medical history.

Two practical tips help. First, ask the specialist to specify the equipment type clearly — particularly distinguishing cpap_machine from nebuliser and oxygen_concentrator_child from adult oxygen (only paediatric oxygen is in the lookup_table). Ambiguous descriptions delay processing. Second, lodge with the retailer rather than directly with Treasury — direct departmental submissions are routinely redirected back.

Read the official TAS Life Support Concession page

Rule-Based Scenarios

Scenario 1: Launceston paediatric phototherapy at home — top tier $901.68/yr

Marja's 8-week-old infant has prolonged neonatal jaundice and is being treated with home phototherapy under a paediatrician's authorisation, running 18-20 hours per day. The family lives in Launceston, Marja is the Aurora Energy account holder, the paediatrician signed the medical authorisation, and life_support_equipment_type = phototherapy. The rebate maps to $901.68 per year (247.035 c/day × 365), credited daily on the Aurora bill. The household additionally claims federal EMEP at $196, bringing total support to $1,097.68 per year. The rebate continues until the paediatrician withdraws the authorisation.

Scenario 2: Devonport CPAP user — corrected tier $169.78/yr (not $901)

Carmello is a 50-year-old truck driver in Devonport with severe sleep apnea on CPAP. He is the electricity account holder, his sleep specialist signed the medical authorisation, and life_support_equipment_type = cpap_machine. The rebate maps to $169.78 per year (46.516 c/day × 365), matching the actual overnight CPAP electricity cost. Under the legacy flat-rate model Carmello would have been quoted $901.68 — a 5× over-estimate. Federal EMEP adds $196, giving total support of $365.78 per year. Carmello also receives the physical machine through the TAS CPAP Program.

Scenario 3: Glenorchy combo claim — home haemodialysis plus CPAP — $648.27/yr

Tewhare is a 62-year-old retiree in Glenorchy with end-stage renal disease on home haemodialysis 4 nights per week plus comorbid sleep apnea on CPAP. He is the electricity account holder, his nephrologist and sleep specialist both signed the authorisation listing both devices, and life_support_equipment_type = combo. The combo tier maps to $648.27 per year (177.607 c/day × 365). This is materially higher than haemodialysis alone ($355.01) and reflects the additional CPAP load. Federal EMEP at $196 per device covers both machines separately for an additional $392 annually.

Scenario 4: Sorell feeding pump user — TAS declined, federal EMEP still applies

Lorcan's 9-year-old child has severe inflammatory bowel disease requiring continuous overnight enteral feeding via a mains-powered feeding pump. Lorcan lives in Sorell, is the electricity account holder, and his paediatric gastroenterologist signed the medical authorisation. However life_support_equipment_type = feeding_pump, which is not in the eligibility.all in list (no state-published rate). The TAS rebate returns ineligible. The family still claims federal EMEP through Services Australia at $196 per device per year. They are also eligible for the sibling TAS Enteral Feeds program covering formula consumables.

Common Mistakes

• Quoting a flat $901.68 to all life support patients: the Phase C type=lookup mechanism added in 2025-26 maps each life_support_equipment_type to a specific tier. CPAP users receive $169.78 not $901.68. Quoting the top tier to a CPAP household over-states the rebate by approximately 5× and creates expectations the retailer credit cannot meet.
• Confusing CPAP and oxygen concentrator tiers: both are respiratory but rates differ by nearly 3×. cpap_machine sits at 46.516 c/day ($169.78/yr); oxygen_concentrator_child at 131.091 c/day ($478.48/yr). Adult oxygen is not separately listed in the lookup_table and would fail the gate. Specialists drafting authorisations should specify the exact equipment value.
• Expecting feeding pumps, heart pumps, suction pumps, child apnoea monitors, or "other" devices to qualify: five device types are excluded from the YAML in list because Tasmania has not published a cents-per-day rate. Federal EMEP at $196 per device covers these patients, but the TAS rebate does not.
• Lodging without being the electricity bill account holder: the rebate is credited to the retailer account, so the named account holder must match. Tenants whose landlord retains the account fail the gate. In shared rental situations transfer the account to the patient's name where the landlord agrees, or claim federal EMEP only.
• Assuming the rebate is paid in cash: it is a daily credit on the retailer bill, not a Services Australia cash payment. A household that does not closely review the bill may miss the credit line. Aurora Energy and other retailers list it as a separate "Life Support Concession" line item.
• Forgetting to re-confirm the medical authorisation annually: the rebate runs while the specialist authorisation is current. Some retailers auto-renew; others request annual re-confirmation. A household that misses a re-confirmation request can find the credit silently dropping off. Diary an annual review.

Related Benefits

The rule sits inside the TAS Life Support Concessions cluster and connects to federal medical equipment payments and sibling TAS health concessions. Six related pages share field gates, application channels, or audience overlap with this rule:

• TAS CPAP Program — sibling Department of Health Tasmania rule that supplies the physical CPAP machine through public hospitals; this rule then rebates the overnight electricity cost at the $169.78 tier. The two rules typically apply together to the same patient.
• TAS Enteral Feeds and Oral Nutritional Supplements — sibling TAS Life Support Programs rule for medical nutrition; feeding pumps are excluded from this rebate but the formula consumables flow through the Enteral Feeds program separately.
• Federal Essential Medical Equipment Payment — companion federal $196 per device per year payment via Services Australia; stacks with this TAS rebate and covers a broader equipment list including the 5 device types this rule excludes.
• TAS Annual Electricity Concession — companion daily-accrual electricity concession at $645.56 per year for PCC/HCC/DVA Gold households; stacks with this Life Support rebate for concession card holders running medical equipment.
• TAS Heating Allowance — narrower PCC-only $56 per year winter heating top-up through DPAC; stacks with this Life Support rebate for PCC households.
• Federal Pensioner Concession Card — not a prerequisite for this rule (Life Support has no card requirement) but commonly held by older life-support patients and unlocks sibling TAS energy concessions.

Frequently Asked Questions