Cost of running oxygen concentrators, Cpap etc.

[PaulineHM]

Everyone,

If you are concerned about the cost of running your 02 concentrator or Cpap then you can ask your 02 delivery company to reimburse the electricity costs every month.

Send the readings into the company every month to get the regular payment.

Make sure you register with your energy supply comapny as a vulnerable user and chat with them about having a manageable bill.

Go well

Pauline

[Ian1967]

Hi Pauline, I use ambulatory Oxygen only now, I was on it 24/7, I then went down to ambulatory and overnight with my BiLevel NIV, I have always been able to claim for my Oxygen usage, even now I only use ambulatory Oxygen, I get money paid into my account for that every couple of months, but I get nothing towards my NIV machine which I have to use for the rest of my life.

I recently bought a EcoFlow River 2 Pro UPS battery for £650, I use this of an afternoon for 2 hours and as a UPS at bedtime, to make sure I don’t lose power for my NIV, I have to resort to using this at bedtime when the Energy bills rise again, to save money, I need my NIV to treat my Respiratory Condition, but I have paid for this out of my own money.

Ian.

[PaulineHM in reply to Ian1967]

Oh goodness me Ian, that sounds tough. I didn’t realise that it only for oxygen where energy costs are reimbursed …have I understood you correctly.

Pleased you are able to be so organised though and look after yourself.

Go well,

Pauline

[Ian1967 in reply to PaulineHM]

Hi Pauline, yes it’s really strange the way the system works, the Oxygen cost is reimbursed by the government, but the NIV isn’t even though I will need that for the rest of my life, the one strange thing is I can take my NIV anywhere in the world on holiday, but you can only take oxygen on holiday within the UK.

You contact your energy company to inform you you’re vulnerable, so they can help you out in power cut, but it makes no difference, we had a power cut about three years ago and I had no battery backup at the time and it was out for eight hours, when my sister managed to get through to them they said they had people in the area to help us they never materialised so my sister phoned back and they said, to go out and look for their people, this was 2.30am and pitch dark so she ended up just going to bed, my sister phoned back the next morning and they said they would send me an old style corded Telephone because the modern cordless ones won’t work without electricity, I never received it so bought one myself.

Ian.

[Ergendl in reply to Ian1967]

How awful!

Shows how proactive you have to be these days.

[PaulineHM in reply to Ian1967]

Really shocking Ian, just terrible. I have registered and do get texts to say if the power is expected off and when it will go on again.

[cazza34 in reply to Ian1967]

Hi Ian are you saying you get reimbursed for using ambulatory oxygen? I thought it was concentrators prescribed by NHS only that qualified for reimbursement of electricity costs?

[Ian1967 in reply to cazza34]

Hi cazza34, yes I use an NHS prescribed Inogen Rove 6 POC and I get small payments every couple of months, I think it’s probably for the electricity used charging it daily.

I was given a POC when I first went on 24/7 Oxygen, I was going on holiday to Cornwall from the Wirral, so they swapped my portable oxygen bottles for the POC because I would have needed too many bottles for the journey and they would’ve been awkward to carry on and off the 3 different trains to get to Cornwall along with my wheelchair, which I needed at the time as well as all my 2 NIV machines and all the other luggage.

Ian.

[cazza34 in reply to Ian1967]

Ah I see, I thought u meant oxygen canisters haha. I wish I could use a battery one, but I need continuous flow at 4L not pulse. I'm glad u get reimbursed as energy costs are so expensive.

[PaulineHM in reply to cazza34]

Do you have a static concentrator though ? I do and get the electricity cost reimbursed for that.

[Patk1]

I've been on bipap niv for years - we don't get any reimbursement

[PaulineHM in reply to Patk1]

That is bad isnt it ?

[Patk1 in reply to PaulineHM]

Yes.doesnt seem fair x

[Numptybrain]

I use a CPAP machine at night would I qualify?

[Ian1967 in reply to Numptybrain]

Hi Numptybrain, sorry no you don’t, CPAP are similar machines to BiPAP NIV’s you don’t get anything towards the energy cost, that’s partly why I bought the Backup Battery, I use it for a couple of hours in the afternoon every day just running off the Battery.

The Battery is primarily for a Uninterruptible Power Source, when you plug your CPAP into the Battery, if you have a power cut the Battery automatically kicks in and you don’t lose power to your CPAP machine, I also plug my bedside lamp into the Battery so that you can safely see what you’re doing if you need to get out of bed.

Ian.

[Numptybrain in reply to Ian1967]

Can you send me a link to the battery please

[Ian1967 in reply to Numptybrain]

Here it is, it’s not cheap at £649, but you can pay by PayPal credit which you can pay over 4 months👍uk.ecoflow.com/products/riv...

[Numptybrain in reply to Ian1967]

Thanks

[Tykelady]

Mine is done by the company and paid automatically into my bank account quarterly.

[PaulineHM in reply to Tykelady]

That’s great. The point I was hoping to get across is that it is possible to send a reading into the company every month so that what we are reimbursed can be done monthly instead of a couple of times a year as mine is by the company.

Does that make sense ?

[pepparuby1]

thank you Pauline. My portable is only charged every two or three days for ten minutes but the information is helpful for when I may need more

[PaulineHM]

Happy to help Pepparuby.

Stay well.

Pauline