Electric service discount for medical equipment

I have a Remstar Classic APAP with HH, it's power usage is:

Standby (OFF) .04 AMP

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM No HH .25 to .15 AMP power flow changes as breathing.

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM with HH on. .9 AMP

120 Volts at 1.0 AMPS = 120 Watts per day

120 watts per day times 30 days = 3600 watts a month. That's 3.6 KWH per month

Cost of electric power $.15 per KWH = $ .54 per month to run APAP with HH at 15 CM.

You think this $ .54, gives you the right to have someone else (the other people hooked up to your power company), to pay the extra $16.46 of your electric bill you are going to get out of paying.

"Welcome to the United States", where no-one has to pay for what they do or use.

Welcome to the United States of Obama, there's always room for one more at the Sow.... Jim

Madalot and OutaSync, I have Dominion Power also. I will look for the form. Thanks for the information.

The cost of operating a CPAP is negligible; I would be embarrassed to claim a power company discount for a CPAP. There are medical devices that are expensive to operate -- and a CPAP is not one of them. I also wouldn't feel right trying to get "priority restoration" for CPAP, a battery works a whole lot better to keep a CPAP operating than "priority restoration".

Goofproof wrote:I have a Remstar Classic APAP with HH, it's power usage is:

Standby (OFF) .04 AMP

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM No HH .25 to .15 AMP power flow changes as breathing.

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM with HH on. .9 AMP

120 Volts at 1.0 AMPS = 120 Watts per day

120 watts per day times 30 days = 3600 watts a month. That's 3.6 KWH per month

Cost of electric power $.15 per KWH = $ .54 per month to run APAP with HH at 15 CM.

You think this $ .54, gives you the right to have someone else (the other people hooked up to your power company), to pay the extra $16.46 of your electric bill you are going to get out of paying.

"Welcome to the United States", where no-one has to pay for what they do or use.

Welcome to the United States of Obama, there's always room for one more at the Sow.... Jim

I stand corrected. I made an error in my calc, basing it on a year, not a month. I used an assumed 400 watts for my cpap. Therefore, my estimated cost per month was too high by a factor of 12.


Your calculation is based on just 120 watts. Sounds a little low to me. In your calculation, I didn't see where you multiplied by the number of hours that you use your machine per day. Or are you using it for just one hour per day?! Looks like your number is too low by a factor of about 8.

jmcd wrote:I spoke with SRP, my electric company this morning. The Medical Life Support discount is in no way related to income -- there are no income qualifications that have to met to receive the discount. There is a form for the physician to complete and a copy of the CPAP prescription must be included.

You are fortunate to have SRP I have APS and they do not offer any discount. Despite what others may say I would not have a problem applying for the discount, its just the same as using a coupon at the grocery store IMO.

I find it hard to calculate my exact usage charge with CPAP because i'm on a combined on/off peak plan with a demand charge for peak usage. my demand charge normally runs at third of my total bill. during the summer when the a/c and pool pump is running and you have to factor the outside temperature into the mix it can get near on impossible to figure out.

I informed my power company of my CPAP usage because they asked me to do so....

"If you or someone living in your home rely on electrically operated medical equipment, please let us know today, so we can send you information which can prepare you for a possible outage. "

jmcd,

Thank you for the information...I live in Mesa and I appreciate anything that can save me almost $200 a year!!!

Zeke351

jonquiljo wrote:Calm down everyone!

I guess a "green" CPAP machine would come complete with a hamster on a treadmill, though I guess they would get to smelling a bit after a while!

Now there is an idea for a new Purr-Sleep fragrance, Hamster Cage. Hmmm, sounds like a best seller right behind Fart, Dog Breath, and Roadkill.

Allen

I wouldn't need to purchase the pur-sleep dog breath oil. I share my bed with my three dogs. The dog breath scent is guaranteed each and every night!

Goofproof wrote:I have a Remstar Classic APAP with HH, it's power usage is:

Standby (OFF) .04 AMP

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM No HH .25 to .15 AMP power flow changes as breathing.

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM with HH on. .9 AMP

120 Volts at 1.0 AMPS = 120 Watts per day

120 watts per day times 30 days = 3600 watts a month. That's 3.6 KWH per month

Cost of electric power $.15 per KWH = $ .54 per month to run APAP with HH at 15 CM.

You think this $ .54, gives you the right to have someone else (the other people hooked up to your power company), to pay the extra $16.46 of your electric bill you are going to get out of paying.

"Welcome to the United States", where no-one has to pay for what they do or use.

Welcome to the United States of Obama, there's always room for one more at the Sow.... Jim

Wow, that sure is complicated.

Goofproof wrote:120 Volts at 1.0 AMPS = 120 Watts per day

Maybe I'm wrong here (I often am), but isn't that 120 Watts per hour ?

Not that it matters much to your argument, but I'm just saying that I find it hard to believe you can run a PAP machine for less than a dollar a month.

Madalot wrote:

OutaSync wrote:

Madalot wrote:I appreciate your posting this. I wasn't aware of a program that gave a discount, so I'll have to look to see if we have one.

I DO know that I have priority status during power failures because of my equipment. We frequently lose power during storms, both summer and winter, and we have been known to be without power for days. While my ventilator will run on the battery for up to six hours, that's not enough for me to get through even one night.

I filled out paperwork, sent it to my doctor for her authorization, and submitted to my power company to be placed on a priority list for these power outages. That SHOULD help get us higher on the restoration list than we have been in the past.

Edited to add: Just to clarify something -- they do not promise to get the power on any quicker or anything like that (covering their butts). They do indicate that I am now on record as having medical needs requiring power so they will do their best to get it back as quickly as possible -- ie putting us higher on the list.

Yes, we have the same deal here in NJ with Jersey Central P&L. No promises but they did send us a form which our Dr signed and we're now "on record". I will say that a few months ago we had a community-wide outage for a few hours and our power was restored about an hour before our neighbors?

I just investigated. Southern California Edison gives medical equipment (including CPAP) users an extra allotment of electrical usage every month at the lowest rate. We still pay for the electricity used, but we get a better rate for longer before extra usage causes a higher rate to kick in. Since I'm between jobs, I am not embarrassed at all to apply for this benefit.

Will be checking out the regs of our local electric energy coop. Now that I and my mom have been laidoff, any and do mean any discount is worth checking out.

My BFF on disability is using an oxygen concentrator (periodic low SpO2 levels daytime & nightime) so I will tell her about this. She is currently staying with us while her house is begin rehabbed re asbestos and lead remediation (2+ wks so far)...your taxes at work. She's a legally-blind diabetic with hypertension, intense sciatic pain (disc, cyst, has had several injections to see if they help), triple bypass survivor, too recently she had cataract surgery. I cannot complain about my situation because I am so much better off in so many ways than my friend.

Thanks for posting this!

Hose_Head wrote:

Goofproof wrote:I have a Remstar Classic APAP with HH, it's power usage is:

Standby (OFF) .04 AMP

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM No HH .25 to .15 AMP power flow changes as breathing.

Running in APAP w/CFlex @ 15 CM with HH on. .9 AMP

120 Volts at 1.0 AMPS = 120 Watts per hour based on a 8 hour day 960 KWH

960 watts per day times 30 days = 28800 watts a month. That's 28.8 KWH per month

Cost of electric power $.15 per KWH = $ 4.32 per month to run APAP with HH at 15 CM.

You think this $ 4.32, gives you the right to have someone else (the other people hooked up to your power company), to pay the extra $12.68 of your electric bill you are going to get out of paying.

"Welcome to the United States", where no-one has to pay for what they do or use.

Welcome to the United States of Obama, there's always room for one more at the Sow.... Jim

I stand corrected. I made an error in my calc, basing it on a year, not a month. I used an assumed 400 watts for my cpap. Therefore, my estimated cost per month was too high by a factor of 12.


Your calculation is based on just 120 watts. Sounds a little low to me. In your calculation, I didn't see where you multiplied by the number of hours that you use your machine per day. Or are you using it for just one hour per day?! Looks like your number is too low by a factor of about 8.

I also have to stand corrected, I did forget to all the hours used into the mix. That explains why I missed MARS due to my Calc of the Lander in metric.

My readings are correct, I measured then a second time today with My "Kill-A-Watt", meter, a handy tool to have. I was giving the benefit of the doubt, in the calc by rounding up.

Really me cost is much less as I don't power my HH at all. My power rate is just $ .12 a KWH.

Making my use cost per month. 120 volts X .25 amp X 8 hours X 30 days = 7200 watts a month at $ .12 a KWH. Monthly cost to run under 84 CENTS. Far less than hamster food.

Just for some balance to the thoughts presented here, I took a look at my machine. My CPAP machine is 2.2 Amps, and the humidifer, which I do use, is 2 Amps. I couldn't find a cost per KWH on my bill, but based on some differences between bills I was able to estimate it to be 9 cents/KWH.

So my numbers look like this:
120v * 4.2 A = 504 watts
504 watts * 8 hr/day * 30 days/month = 120960 watt-hours
120960/1000 = 121 KWH
121 KWH * .09 = $10.89

That is an order of magnitude more than Goofproof spends. However, my electric company does not offer any kind of rebate for use of electrical medical equipment. They also do not have any list you can get on in the event of power failure so that they raise the priority of restoring power to your home. They suggest that you need a generator as back-up.

They DO offer not to cut your power off right away for failure to pay your bill if you will have a doctor certify that you absolutely will die if the power is disconnected. (OK, I may be taking too much literary license with that one.)

For me, it's not about any discount that might be available.

It's about being put on a priority list for getting electrical service in case of an area-wide loss of power.