The Queensland Government has put in place a new concession scheme for low income Queenslanders who have a medical condition requiring them to use more electricity for cooling and heating. This announcement follows a campaign ledby the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Queensland. The Medical Cooling and Heating Electricity Concession Scheme commenced on 1 July 2010, and provides quarterly payments to a total of $216.21 per year (including GST), to applicants who hold a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, meet certain medical criteria, and have an air conditioning unit in their principal place of residence. Applicants will be required to provide medical certification of their condition, but in the first year of the scheme payments will be backdated to 1 July 2010 for applicants with pre-existing conditions. This will allow time to obtain the necessary assessment and certification.

There are a range of medical conditions which potentially qualify an applicant: these include multiple sclerosis; autonomic system dysfunction (medical conditions in which the autonomic system has been damaged eg severe spinal cord injury, stroke, brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders); loss of skin integrity or loss of sweating capacity (e.g. significant burns greater than 20%, severe inflammatory skin conditions and some rare forms of disordered sweating); CRPS - complex regional pain syndrome or other hypersensitivity to extremes of environmental temperatures leading to increased pain or other discomfort, or an increased risk of complications such as advanced peripheral vascular disease.

APMA has warmly welcomed the announcement, and congratulates the MS Society in particular for its work in support of this initiative. Further details of the Medical Cooling and Heating Electricity Concession Scheme are available on the Department of Communities website.