If you, someone in your household or someone who is a resident at your relevant business (such as Aged Care or Caravan Park) has life support equipment we want to help you be as safe as possible. Registering your home or business with us is important so we can apply life support protection.
Eligibility
To be eligible for life support protection and to be registered as a life support customer with us, you or someone at your property must rely on at least one of the following:
- oxygen concentrator
- intermittent peritoneal dialysis machine
- kidney dialysis machine
- continuous positive airway pressure respirator
- Crigler-Najjar syndrome phototherapy equipment
- a ventilator for life support (also known as a respirator)
- any other equipment (fuelled by electricity or gas) that a registered medical practitioner certifies is required for life support
or have a medical condition that a registered medical practitioner certifies requires continuous supply of electricity and/or gas.
Registering for life support protection
Whether you need life support protection now or at a future date registering for life support protection is easy and only takes a few steps:
- Contact us and let us know there is a need for life support protection.
- We then inform your electricity distributor or gas distributor, send you some information about the management of your energy supply in the event of an emergency or outage and provide you with a life support registration form. Alternatively, you can contact your local electricity distributor or gas distributor directly.
- To be registered, both you and your registered medical practitioner will need to complete and sign all sections of the life support registration form. Once complete, please send the form back to us by the nominated due date so we can ensure that your life support protection has been registered.
We understand that sometimes it may be difficult to return the form by the due date. If you would like to arrange a due date extension please contact us as soon as possible. Keep in mind that failure to return the form may result in deregistration and loss of life support protection at the property.
If you have any questions, please call our award winning Customer Solutions Team on on 131 806.
Planned interruptions with life support protection
Life support protection does not guarantee an uninterrupted energy supply. There may be times your energy supply will be interrupted due to planned works for maintenance or upgrades of the meter, the network or scheduled planned upgrades by your local distributor.
With life support protection you will be given notification of the planned disruption. Here’s what happens:
- If it’s us. If your electricity supply is interrupted by us, unless we agree otherwise, we will notify you at least four business days in advance, to help you prepare for the interruption.
- If it’s your distributor. If your gas or electricity supply is interrupted by your local distributor, they are required to notify you at least four business days in advance of the interruption.
Unplanned interruptions
Sometimes things don’t go as they should and you end up with no power due to an unplanned interruption. Any unforeseen events could cause this to happen, including:
- extreme weather conditions
- accidents that damage your local distributor's infrastructure
If you or someone in your household is a user of life support equipment and is unexpectedly left with no electricity or gas, the first thing you must do is contact your electricity distributor or gas distributor and explain that the property requires a supply of energy for life support equipment. You will find your electricity distributor or gas distributor faults and emergency number on the top right corner of your Red Energy bill.
To help in the event of an unplanned interruption we recommend you have an action plan handy that includes:
- All necessary phone numbers in writing, secure in a safe place, including: your doctor, nearest hospital, an emergency contact and your local distributor and energy retailer.
- Ensuring that back up batteries to your life support equipment are always charged.
- Ensuring that any back up oxygen tanks are full.
- Ensuring you have a power bank that is fully charged at all times for your mobile phone.
- Talking to your medical practitioner for any additional advice that applies to your life support equipment.
Life support concessions
A little extra support may be available to you if you use life support equipment at your property. You may be eligible to receive government rebates and concessions on your electricity and gas usage. Please visit our concessions page for more information.
Victoria New South Wales South Australia Queensland Australian Capital Territory