Victorian Non-Mains Life Support Concession

Who Can Claim It

The rule sits in the VIC Life Support Concession parent cluster as the off-grid sister to the two mains sub-rules. It is the only Victorian energy concession that pays the household directly (bank transfer) rather than through a retailer credit, because off-grid households do not have a billing retailer to credit against.

Five conditions must all pass:

• Victorian residency - state = VIC.
• Qualifying concession card - concession_card_type IN {pensioner_concession_card, health_care_card, dva_gold_card}.
• Equipment type identified - life_support_equipment_type must exist in the DFFH approved schedule (oxygen concentrator, CPAP/BiPAP, home haemodialysis, ventilator, certain nebulisers).
• Doctor's certificate on file - life_support_medical_certificate = true. Same DFFH form as the Mains Life Support rule.
• Off-grid status - non_mains_electricity_or_water = true. The household must be off the mains electricity grid, the mains water grid, or both.

The conflicts block names both the Mains Life Support (Electricity) rule and the Mains Life Support (Water) sub-rule, so a household cannot collect both the kWh-based credit and the fixed $389/$560 figure for the same equipment. Households with split status (mains electricity but tank water, for example) claim Mains Life Support on the metered side and Non-Mains Life Support (water $560) on the off-grid side.

What You Get

The amount block defines two independent fixed components:

• Non-mains electricity rebate: $389.00 per financial year. Paid as a single lump sum to your nominated bank account once the online application is approved. Designed to cover the typical incremental cost of running life-support equipment off bottled LPG, diesel generator, embedded network electricity or large solar/battery system.
• Non-mains water rebate: $560.00 per financial year. Paid the same way. Designed to cover the additional water consumption of home haemodialysis (and similar) when the household relies on rainwater tanks, bore water, or trucked water deliveries.
• Combined maximum: $949 per year when a fully off-grid household qualifies for both rebates. The YAML's amount.value = 949 reflects this combined ceiling.

Worked example: Wirimbirra, 70, holds a PCC and lives on a Mildura property with no mains electricity (diesel generator) and no mains water (rainwater tanks plus a bore). Her grandson lives with her and uses a CPAP machine. Both Wirimbirra (PCC holder, named on the Concessions Portal application) and the equipment (DFFH-approved CPAP) qualify. She claims:

• Non-mains electricity rebate of $389 (CPAP runs off the diesel generator overnight)
• Non-mains water rebate is not applicable in this case because CPAP does not require additional water - if Wirimbirra's grandson moved to home haemodialysis on rainwater she would also claim the $560.

For comparison, an equivalent on-grid household running CPAP would receive about $400-$420 per year via the Mains Life Support Concession (1,460 kWh × ~28.5 c/kWh). The non-mains figure is deliberately set close to the mains equivalent so off-grid status does not penalise patients.

Pro-rata payments apply when equipment is installed mid-year: the YAML's notes specify the rebate runs from the equipment installation month rather than from 1 July. A CPAP commissioned in October generates roughly nine months of the $389 figure (about $292) for that financial year, with the full amount applying the following 1 July.

How To Apply

The application channel is online via the Victorian Concessions and Allowances Portal. Steps:

1. Have your treating doctor sign the DFFH Life Support medical certificate (the same form used for the Mains Life Support rule). The form must specify the equipment, the medical condition and that home use is required.
2. Register for an account on the Victorian Concessions and Allowances Portal at services.dffh.vic.gov.au. Provide your concession card details, address, evidence that the property is off-grid (no electricity bill, no water bill, generator or tank declaration), and a nominated bank account.
3. Upload the medical certificate and select Non-Mains Life Support Concession. Choose the electricity component, water component, or both.
4. The portal usually approves within 4-6 weeks. The rebate then transfers to the nominated bank account within 10 business days of approval.

Evidence is the concession card, the DFFH medical certificate and a bank account in the cardholder's name. There is no retailer involvement, no quarterly billing cycle, no kWh allowance - just the fixed annual figure.

Apply through the Victorian Concessions and Allowances Portal

When You'll See It

Online applications typically take 4-6 weeks for DFFH to process - longer than the retailer-mediated mains rule because there is no automated retailer billing pipeline. Once approved, the bank transfer arrives within 10 business days. Subsequent year renewals are quicker (often 2-3 weeks) because the medical certificate may still be valid; new certificates are required every 24 months for chronic conditions or annually for short-term equipment use.

The rebate covers the financial year (1 July to 30 June). Applications can be lodged any time during the year and are pro-rated from the equipment installation month or the application month, whichever is later. Households that miss applying in one financial year cannot back-claim into earlier years - the rebate runs forward only.

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Mildura off-grid PCC household, full $389 + $560

Wirimbirra, 70, holds a PCC and lives on a remote Mildura property with no mains electricity (diesel generator + 9 kW solar/battery) and no mains water (50,000L rainwater tanks plus a deep bore). Her granddaughter has end-stage kidney disease and is on home haemodialysis four nights a week, drawing both electricity (around 2,400 kWh/yr-equivalent through the generator/battery) and water (estimated 168 kL/yr). Wirimbirra applies through the Concessions Portal, uploads the DFFH certificate signed by her granddaughter's nephrologist, and claims both rebates. The $389 electricity rebate plus $560 water rebate totals $949 per year, paid as one lump sum to her bank account.

Scenario 2: Box Hill household with split status, $560 only

Arjun, 64, holds a DVA Gold Card and lives in a Box Hill home that is on mains electricity (Origin Energy bill) but uses rainwater tanks for the household water supply (the 1980s house was never connected to mains because of a heritage easement). His home dialysis unit runs on the metered electricity. He claims the Mains Life Support Concession (Electricity) through Origin and receives a quarterly kWh-based credit of about $170. For the water side he claims Non-Mains Life Support (Water $560) through the Concessions Portal because there is no water corporation to credit. He cannot claim Mains Life Support (Water) because that rule requires a water corporation account and a haemodialysis-specific equipment type.

Scenario 3: Springvale rental, mains gas not non-mains

Phong, 32, holds an HCC and rents a Springvale apartment that uses mains gas for hot water and cooking but mains electricity for everything else. His wife uses a CPAP machine. Phong assumes "non-mains" applies because the gas is bottled to him via the building's central LPG service. The rule explicitly disqualifies him: the mains electricity gate fails the off-grid test, and the rebate calculation in this rule does not look at gas at all (electricity and water only). Phong instead claims the Mains Life Support Concession (Electricity) through EnergyAustralia at the per-kWh formula, receiving about $416 per year for the CPAP. The bottled gas billing arrangement is irrelevant to the Life Support rule.

Scenario 4: Geelong household commissioning equipment mid-year

Aoife, 49, holds a PCC and recently moved to a small off-grid block outside Geelong (rainwater tanks plus a 12 kW battery system; no mains connections). Her oxygen concentrator was installed on 4 November 2025. She lodges the Non-Mains Life Support application on 18 November. DFFH approves on 12 December. The portal pro-rates the $389 electricity rebate from 4 November (the equipment installation date) to 30 June 2026 - about eight months - paying her $259.33. The $560 water rebate does not apply because oxygen concentrators do not require additional water. From 1 July 2026 the full $389 rebate runs annually until equipment use ceases or the certificate expires.

Common Mistakes

• Confusing this rule with Mains Life Support: the two are listed as conflicts in the YAML. Households on the mains grid claim the kWh-based mains rule (variable amount, paid via retailer credit each quarter); off-grid households claim this fixed-amount rule (paid annually by bank transfer). A patient cannot claim both for the same equipment.
• Treating bottled LPG as off-grid electricity: the rule specifically targets electricity supply method. Mains electricity plus bottled LPG is still "mains electricity" for this rule and the patient should claim Mains Life Support (Electricity) instead. Off-grid means no metered electricity retailer at all - typically a diesel generator, a solar/battery system that imports zero from the grid, or an embedded network without retailer billing.
• Skipping the water component when both apply: the application portal asks separately about electricity and water status. A fully off-grid household running a CPAP does not get the water rebate (CPAP needs no water), but a fully off-grid household running home haemodialysis qualifies for both because dialysis water consumption is significant. Read each component's qualifying conditions independently.
• Missing the 30 June 2026 expiry on the YAML: the rule's expiry_date is 30 June 2026, after which DFFH reviews and republishes the figures (likely with small adjustments). Applications lodged before the renewal arrive can sit in a queue when the new financial year's portal opens; lodge mid-year rather than end-of-year to avoid the queue.
• Applying without the medical certificate: the Concessions Portal will accept a partial submission but the rebate is not approved until the DFFH medical certificate is uploaded. Customers occasionally submit just the bank details and concession card and assume DFFH will email for the rest - the application instead sits in pending status indefinitely.
• Treating the figure as combined regardless of status: the YAML's $949 is a combined ceiling, not a baseline. A household with mains electricity but tank water claims $560 only; a household with off-grid electricity but mains water claims $389 only. Reading the headline figure and assuming everyone gets $949 understates the eligibility check.

Related Victorian Energy Concessions

• Life Support Concession (Mains Electricity) - the conflicting sister rule for households on metered mains electricity. Paid as a quarterly retailer credit calculated against legislated kWh standards rather than as a fixed annual figure.
• Life Support Concession (Water - Haemodialysis) - for households on mains water with home haemodialysis only. Pays approximately 168 kL of water per year at the water corporation tariff. Conflicts with the Non-Mains Life Support water component.
• Non-Mains Energy Concession (LPG, heating oil, firewood) - the non-life-support equivalent for general energy consumption. Tiered $57 to $650 annual rebate based on total off-grid energy spend. Stacks with this rule because they cover different cost categories.
• Annual Electricity Concession (17.5%) - not applicable to off-grid households (no retailer bill to credit) but worth checking if any part of the property is on mains electricity.
• Medical Cooling Concession - applies to mains electricity only, so irrelevant for fully off-grid households. Households with split status (mains electricity + tank water) running this rule can also claim Medical Cooling on the metered side.
• Water and Sewerage Concession - 50% off mains water bills for concession card holders, capped at around $372/yr. Off-grid households on tank water cannot claim it but partly off-grid households (mains water, off-grid electricity) often qualify.

Frequently Asked Questions