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Utilities Programs for low income individuals

Electric: Medical Baseline

Medical Baseline Allocation

Along with the change from lifeline to Baseline in 1982, the legislature established a new category of Baseline for customers that required electricity-powered life-support equipment. Called Medical Baseline, the additional allowance of kilwatthours (kWh) to be charged at the Baseline rate was determined by specific disabilities, and later expanded to include specific diseases.
The link below provides more information about SCE’s Medical Baseline Allocation Program:

Medical Baseline Allocation factsheet
You may download an electronic copy of the Medical Baseline Application in Adobe Acrobat format or request to have a paper copy mailed to you.


Medical Baseline Application
Upon application and accepted certification of a medical doctor or osteopath licensed to practice medicine in California, eligible residential customers are provided a standard year-round medical baseline allocation of 16.5 kWh per day in addition to the applicable baseline allocation for the season and their baseline region. However, under a "hardship clause," a higher medical baseline allocation may be provided.

Eligibility:

Regular use in the customer's home of one or more medical life-support devices essential to maintain the life of a full-time resident of the household; and/or
A full-time resident of the household is: a paraplegic, hemiplegic, quadriplegic, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma patient, being treated for life-threatening illness, and/or has a compromised immune system.
Life support devices are those devices or equipment that utilize mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore or supplant a vital function, or mechanical equipment relied upon for mobility both within and outside of buildings.

Life-support devices include
Aerosol Tent
Pressure Pad
Apnea Monitor
Pressure Pump
Compressor/
Concentrator
Respirator (all types)
Electronic Nerve Stimulator
Suction Machine
Ultrasonic Nebulizer
Electrostatic Nebulizer
Inhalation Pulmonary Pressure
Breather Machine (IPPB)
Iron Lung
Dialysis Machine
Hemodialysis Machine
Motorized Wheelchair
Oxygen Generator

Source: http://www.sce.com/CustomerService/RateInformation/ResidentialRates/MedicalBaselineAllocation.htm

Gas: California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) http://www.socalgas.com/regulatory/inserts/pdf/scg_eea_li_final.pdf#page=1

Telephone: Life Line