Medical Baseline

All residential customers are billed a certain amount of their natural gas and electricity use at their utility company’s lowest residential rate. This is called the “Baseline Allowance,” and it is set depending on what climate zone your home is in and whether it is the utility’s “winter” or “summer” season.

If you rely on life support equipment, have life-threatening illnesses, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma, are paraplegic or quadriplegic, or a compromised immune system, you can have extra allowances of natural gas and electricity billed at your utility company’s lowest rate through the Medical Baseline program. “Life support equipment” means equipment that uses mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a vital function, or mechanical equipment that you rely on for mobility both within and outside buildings. This includes the following equipment:

• All types of respirators

• Iron lungs

• Hemodialysis machines

• Suction machines

• Electric nerve stimulators

• Pressure pads and pumps

• Aerosol tents

• Electrostatic and ultrasonic nebulizers

• Compressors

• IPBB machines

• Motorized wheelchairs

PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E all offer advanced notices of power outages. If extreme heat poses a health risk for anyone in your home and your living space must be kept at a constant temperature, sign up for advance notification of rolling blackouts. SCE, PG&E, and SDG&E offer notification call in case of state-directed power outages that could affect you if you are vulnerable to extreme temperatures.

PG&E and SDG&E have a program called Marking Appliances for the Blind. If your relative or friend has limited vision, a utility service technician can go to that person's home and mark range dials and thermostats to make them easier to use. To request this service for someone, call your utility to make an appointment.

Please contact your utility for more information:

• PGE
• SCE
• Southern California Gas Company
• SDG&E