Electricity discounts

[thanku4playing1]

For those of you that think a cpap machine uses an insignificant amount of electricity.

In California the electricity rate goes up as you use it.
It can easily get to 30 cents a kilowatt hour.

My fairly new Resmed uses 275 watts.

I have sleep apnea and narcolepsy, I sleep about 10 hours a day or more.

10 hours * 275 = 2.75 Kwh
2.75 * 31 days = 86.25 Kwh
86.25 Kwh * .30 = $26.88 a month.
2.75 Kwh * 365 days = $301.13 a year

The medical baseline is not a discount, it just removes the rate punishment for a medical device.

[roster]

....My fairly new Resmed uses 275 watts.

..........

If it does say 275 watts, I bet that is when the humidifier heater is running full throttle and the CPAP pressure is running 24 cm and most of that wattage would be going to the humidifier. The heater is going to throttle up and down and mostly down after the container of water is heated. Would it even use $10 of electricity in a year? Somebody with nothing to do can figure it out and let us know. For right now I assume the annual usage is under $10.

[GaryG]

I just checked on my ResMed S8 Autoset II and I saw in the technical specs that the "Typical power consumption at 20 cm H2O is 39VA or 20.7W". That's less than a tenth of what thankuforplaying mentioned above.

[billbolton]

For those of you that think a cpap machine uses an insignificant amount of electricity.

[Snip]

2.75 Kwh * 365 days = $301.13 a year

Ignoring the all too obvious facts that you have taken both the maximum possible KWh rate and the maximum possible machine power consumption ( ), unless you also tell us what your total power annual power bill is (in both $$$$ and KWh), its simply not possible to know whether $301.13 is a significant amount or not.

[Patrick A]

San Diego Greedy & Extortion has a program called CARE. When I was not getting paid for almost a year I qualified for it. When I went out on Disability Retirement I make about *&*& to much to qualify for it. With my wife's income, and my Disability Retirement and S/S we get almost *&^%$# too much for it. I also have a tag on my electric meter that indicates I have a Medical device. For that they give me a Medical Equipment Allowance. I don't want any discounts because how much money I recieve for my retirement is none of SDG&E's business.

[Sleeprider]

People who are not consumers of California utility power really can't appreciate what tiered pricing does. The PG&E medical discount simply lets you buy more power at the baseline rate. Since we have medically necessary equipment that is powered by electricity , this is fair, and is not a subsidy or welfare of any kind. We still pay for the power. As electricity consumption rises to Tier 2 and Tier 3, the rates are punitive. They are intended to promote conservation, but compared to average utility rates of 8 cents/kWh in the east and midwest, our Tier 2 and 3 rates are 26 and 34 cents/Kwh. FOUR TIMES the price most of the country pays for electricity. I don't qualify for any income related discounts or subsidies, but don't feel guilty about using the extended medical baseline allowance. The program is being cut back to reflect the fact CPAP consumes less power than other medically necessary devices.