TAS Medical Cooling or Heating Concession — $193.36/yr

What Is This Payment?

The Tasmanian Medical Cooling or Heating Concession is a targeted electricity discount for households where a medical condition makes temperature control a clinical necessity rather than a comfort. In the rule database it is tagged as a monetary primary benefit in the TAS Medical Concessions cluster, with a household entitlement scope assessed per financial year. The concept is that some conditions — for example those affecting the body's ability to regulate temperature — require running air conditioning or heating more than a typical home, pushing up the power bill.

The concession is administered through Concessions Tasmania and applied via your electricity retailer. You submit a medical practitioner certification to the retailer, and the retailer adds the daily discount to your account. Because it is a daily credit on the bill, it appears as a reduction on your electricity statement rather than as a separate cash payment.

The design intent is to recognise an extra, medically driven energy cost that the standard pensioner-style electricity concession does not specifically address. That is why it is built to stack: the base Annual Electricity Concession offsets ordinary household usage, while this medical concession adds a further daily discount on top for the temperature-related medical need. The two target different cost layers on the same account.

How Much Can You Get?

The amount block is defined as a fixed yearly payment. The headline value recorded in this rule is $193.36 a year, delivered as a daily discount of 52.975 cents per day on the electricity account.

The arithmetic is transparent and worth verifying. Multiply the daily rate by the days in a year: 52.975 cents × 365 days = 19,335.875 cents, which rounds to $193.36. Because the discount is applied per day, a household that holds the account for only part of the year receives a pro-rata amount — for example roughly $96.68 over 182 days — rather than the full annual figure.

To audit your own benefit: first confirm the certified medical need and that you hold the electricity account; second check your bill for a daily discount line at 52.975 c/day; third, if you also receive the base Annual Electricity Concession, confirm both daily discounts appear, because the rule note allows them to be combined. The rule carries no income or asset taper and no date window, so $193.36 is the full annual value for a household that holds the account for the whole year.

Eligibility Conditions

The eligibility block is an all set, so every item must pass.

1. Tasmanian residency: state = TAS. The concession applies to Tasmanian electricity accounts and is delivered through Tasmanian retailers.
2. Electricity account holder: electricity_bill_account_holder = true. The discount attaches to the account, so the person claiming must be the account holder, not merely a resident of the dwelling.
3. Temperature-sensitive medical condition: medical_condition_affected_by_temperature = true. A medical condition must make cooling or heating of the main home a clinical need, certified by a medical practitioner.

Required fields for assessment are state of residence, the account-holder flag and the temperature-sensitive medical-condition flag. Notably there is no concession-card requirement in this rule, so a household can qualify on medical grounds alone even if no one holds a Pensioner Concession Card or Health Care Card.

The exclude block is empty and there are no conflicts. The practical filter is therefore the account-holder requirement combined with proper medical certification: a genuine medical need cannot translate into a discount if the bill is in someone else's name, and a certification that does not address the temperature sensitivity of the condition may not satisfy the third gate.

How To Apply

Application metadata defines one channel: electricity retailer. You apply through your retailer by supplying the medical certification, and the retailer applies the daily discount to your account.

Evidence requirements are explicitly listed in the rule and should be prepared in advance:

• medical practitioner certification — a statement from a doctor confirming a medical condition that requires cooling or heating of the home

Two practical tips. First, ask the certifying doctor to state that the condition is affected by temperature and that cooling or heating of the home is medically necessary, because the rule turns on that specific point rather than the diagnosis alone. Second, if you already receive the base Annual Electricity Concession, tell your retailer you want the medical discount added on top — the rule note confirms the two stack, but the retailer will not apply the medical layer until you submit the certification.

Read the official Concessions Tasmania guidance

Rule-Based Scenarios

Scenario 1: Account holder with certified need, full year

Divya, 52, lives in Launceston, holds her own electricity account, and has a medical condition that requires the home to be cooled in summer. Her doctor certifies the temperature-sensitive condition and she submits it to her retailer. All three eligibility items pass, so the retailer applies the 52.975 c/day discount for the full year, worth $193.36. Because she also receives the base Annual Electricity Concession, both daily discounts appear on her bill and stack as the rule note allows.

Scenario 2: Genuine need but bill in flatmate's name

Kabir, 31, has a certified temperature-sensitive condition but shares a house where the electricity account is in his flatmate's name. Because the rule requires electricity_bill_account_holder = true, the discount cannot attach to a bill he does not hold, so he receives nothing under this rule until the account is in his own name. The medical need alone does not unlock the credit.

Scenario 3: Part-year account holder gets pro-rata

Ishani, 60, moved into her own home mid-year and holds the electricity account for about 182 days of the financial year. With certified need she receives the daily discount only for the days she held the account — roughly $96.68 at 52.975 c/day over 182 days — rather than the full $193.36. The daily structure of the discount means part-year holders are paid pro-rata.

Scenario 4: No medical certification, no discount

Anaya, 45, is the electricity account holder in Hobart but does not have a temperature-sensitive medical condition; she simply finds the house cold. Because medical_condition_affected_by_temperature = true cannot be certified, she does not qualify for this concession, though she may still receive the base Annual Electricity Concession on ordinary grounds.

Common Mistakes

• Reading $193.36 as a lump sum: the value is delivered as a 52.975 c/day discount, not a single payment. A household that holds the account part-year receives a pro-rata amount, not the full $193.36.
• Applying when the bill is in another name: the gate electricity_bill_account_holder = true means the discount attaches to the account holder. A flatmate or family member with the medical need cannot claim it on a bill held by someone else.
• Assuming a concession card is required: this rule has no card requirement. It turns on the account-holder flag and certified medical need, so it can apply even where the standard card-based electricity concession does not.
• Missing the stack with the base concession: the rule note allows this discount on top of the Annual Electricity Concession. Households often claim only one and leave the second daily discount unapplied on the same account.
• Submitting certification that omits temperature sensitivity: the third gate is medical_condition_affected_by_temperature = true. A certificate describing the condition but not confirming the need for cooling or heating may not satisfy the rule.
• Confusing it with life-support rebates: this concession covers medically necessary cooling or heating, not the cost of running life-support equipment, which is addressed by a separate Life Support Concession with its own higher rate.

Related Benefits

• TAS Annual Electricity Concession — $645.56 per year via daily 176.866c rebate — base electricity concession this medical discount stacks on top of, per the rule note.
• TAS Life Support Concession — higher electricity rebate for running life-support equipment, a different cost layer to medical cooling or heating.
• TAS Heating Allowance — $56 yearly PCC-only winter top-up — a card-based winter top-up that targets heating costs more broadly.
• TAS Home Oxygen Program — in-kind medical support for respiratory patients who may also run temperature control at home.
• TAS Water and Sewerage Concession — companion household utility concession on the same property.

Frequently Asked Questions