Utility discounts

[texaswealth]

A couple months ago I heard over the radio something about C-PAP users who register their equipment can receive a gas discount. I did not respond at that time and it sounded like a "discount on gasoline" which, of course, would not make any sense. But, a utility discount would make sense, especially if one is using an oxygen generator, as well. Where would I find information about this subject?

[Pugsy]

I think you need to start with your utility providers directly.
I happened to ask at my electric office one day if they offered any special accommodations for those using some sort of medical equipment and was told that the only thing they offer is advanced notice for planned work creating electric outage. So I get a phone call from a machine and I can't understand a word it says.

Other utility providers may offer discounts or such but it maybe and individual provider thing. Need to check with yours to make sure.

[Slartybartfast]

I think you need to start with your utility providers directly.
[snip] So I get a phone call from a machine and I can't understand a word it says.

[snip].

That's because you didn't press "2" for English.

[Pugsy]

That's because you didn't press "2" for English.

Sad part about it....it was in English. I was able to understand enough of it to realize it was from the electric company and that was it. My first thought was "did I pay my bill?"
About a hour after the message I lost my power (around 10 AM) for about 2 hours. So I figured it out and next time I went to pay my bill I went during office hours and asked about the message. Apparently it is an automated message that gets garbled over some cell phones. We don't have a house phone so I live with it. In over 2 years...only happened twice so no big deal.

[Goofproof]

Why not, leting, your niebhors pay your part of your electric bill, sounds like the socialist american way, heaven forbid we be willing to pay our own way.


XPAPs use very little electric, find something bigger to cry about. Jim

[Spektor]

This may be an interesting segue -- have any of the CPAP manufacturers discussed Energy Star certification on these machines, now or on upcoming models? Especially those external power bricks many machines use. Are any now used considered 'smart' power converters that shut off completely when the machines are not in use, or, like many power bricks, do they continue drawing 'vampire' electric power even when the CPAP is off?

With millions(?) of CPAP machines used across the country, that's some significant wasted electricity.

[LSAT]

This may be an interesting segue -- have any of the CPAP manufacturers discussed Energy Star certification on these machines, now or on upcoming models? Especially those external power bricks many machines use. Are any now used considered 'smart' power converters that shut off completely when the machines are not in use, or, like many power bricks, do they continue drawing 'vampire' electric power even when the CPAP is off?

With millions(?) of CPAP machines used across the country, that's some significant wasted electricity.

Plug it in to a Power bar and switch it off when the CPAP is not in use........Save about .02 a day.

[-tim]

The s9 runs the fan at low speed for a while after the machine is "off" to help dry out the hose. Once its done with that, it is using very, very little power. After the local hippy groups kept putting junk mail in my letterbox about turning off the power bricks, I ended up measuring a bunch. My nokia phone charger would use about $.02 of power a year if left plugged in and not charging the phone. My laptop charger was something like 10x worse. Older devices were much worse and some of them were into the dollars per year. If your power is around $.10 per kwh a 1 watt devices uses about $1 worth of power in a year rough estimate of costs. You can save more energy by buying a better quality CFL compared to the cheap ones.

[chunkyfrog]

After plugging various wall warts into a Kill-a-watt device, we have observed a vast range of usage
(or waste, as it were) Rather than unplugging everything, as often advised, it seems to make sense
to identify the greedy suckers and toss them; continuing to use the rest normally.

[-tim]

After plugging various wall warts into a Kill-a-watt device, we have observed a vast range of usage
(or waste, as it were) Rather than unplugging everything, as often advised, it seems to make sense
to identify the greedy suckers and toss them; continuing to use the rest normally.

The kill-a-watt device isn't very good at reading low power. Anything it identifies as a problem is a problem but your best bet is feel the device and if its warm, its wasting power. If its hot, replace it. A cheap IR thermometer can tell .1 deg difference and the real low power devices will be the same temp as the outlet. I have a pac3200 that gives me all sorts of info on devices and their energy consumption and power factor. Its a cool toy but they cost more than a cpap machine.

[StuUnderPressure]

A couple months ago I heard over the radio something about C-PAP users who register their equipment can receive a gas discount. I did not respond at that time and it sounded like a "discount on gasoline" which, of course, would not make any sense. But, a utility discount would make sense, especially if one is using an oxygen generator, as well. Where would I find information about this subject?

Some utility companies do offer such discounts.

Mine offers some discounts - but NOT for CPAP / APAP. They do not consider is to be "critical" medical equipment.

Mine does offer to notify you in advance of planned power outages - even for CPAP / APAP.

I passed on registering for that.
When the lights go off - I know I have lost power & won't try to use my APAP.
Otherwise, I am already sleeping & have turned the phone off - so I would not get any notification anyway.

[chunkyfrog]

I would not expect an electricity discount for CPAP/APAP;
however ventilators and oxygen concentrators might be a different story.
Seasonal fluctuations in electric rates often give an advantage to electric space heat.
I will use the optical thermometer hint--thanks.

[-tim]

I would not expect an electricity discount for CPAP/APAP;
however ventilators and oxygen concentrators might be a different story.

Around here the O2 generator (and the cpap/apap in NSW) is based on the assumption that it saves the government some money on expenses and its doesn't cost the power company anything since your using power at off peak times. The local generators run coal plants at about $.025 per kwh yet most people are paying ten times that at $.20 per kwh. The If your on a peak/off peak rate you can expect rates of $.30 peak and $.15 off peak on a good deal. All the O2 generators get lumped into a fixed pool hedge and the result is the power for them is cheaper than just about any other power the retailer has to buy. If you figure the people most likely to use O2 gens at home are also the ones more likely to have been paying for the grid for the longest time, there are plenty of ways to argue they aren't getting a good deal even with the discounts.

[Grumpygus]

SoCal Edison, the electric company here in Central California offer's a medical baseline allocation for Apnea Monitor users.
Here's the link for anyone here in the Valley
http://www.sce.com/CustomerService/rate ... cation.htm

[lazer]

Why not, leting, your niebhors pay your part of your electric bill, sounds like the socialist american way, heaven forbid we be willing to pay our own way.


XPAPs use very little electric, find something bigger to cry about. Jim

True, After all aren't we supposed to be in the Share the Wealth era?