What the Duke Energy medically essential program in Florida actually does
The Duke Energy medically essential program in Florida is for a household where someone is chronically or seriously ill, handicapped or on a life support system that needs power to keep working, according to Duke Energy own program page for Florida. Signing up places an indicator on the account and the meter, so an account is handled carefully if a bill goes unpaid. Enrolling takes a short form, a name, an address, contact information and an account number.
Participation in the program does not mean that your power will not be disconnected for nonpayment or interrupted due to an outage.
Duke Energy, written statement on its own medically essential program page for Florida. Source 1.
What Florida law requires that the Duke Energy page does not mention
Florida law says more than Duke Energy own page does. Florida Statute 366.15, read directly for this article, requires every electric utility the state regulates, Duke Energy Florida included, to give a medically essential customer 3 protections regardless of what that utility own page chooses to state. A utility cannot charge any extra deposit to start or restore medically essential service, so that deposit costs 0 dollars. Before disconnecting a medically essential customer for nonpayment, a utility must attempt a phone call 24 hours ahead, and if that call fails, send a representative to the home by 4 in the afternoon the day before the disconnection. A utility must also warn a certified household before a planned interruption of service. None of these 3 protections appears in the words on Duke Energy own program page.
The Duke Energy count is this publication own tally, made by reading Duke Energy own program page directly, not a number Duke Energy states about itself. Florida law requires a deposit waiver, a 24 hour advance phone contact attempt before disconnection for nonpayment, and a warning before a planned interruption, regardless of what a utility own page states.
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| Named on Duke page | 0 |
| Required by Florida law | 3 |
A public utility shall not impose upon any customer any additional deposit to continue or restore medically essential electric service.
Florida Statute 366.15, the law that governs every electric utility the state regulates, Duke Energy Florida included. Source 2.
How the Florida Power and Light medically essential program compares
Florida Power and Light runs a similar program under the same state law, and its own page names 2 protections the Duke Energy page does not, special notices before and after a hurricane, and a special notice before service is disconnected for nonpayment. The Florida Power and Light page states the same restoration disclaimer Duke states, that participation does not provide priority restoration after a storm and does not guarantee uninterrupted service. Neither company page names a discount, and Florida Power and Light requires enrollment to be renewed every year rather than carrying over automatically.
How long a Florida medically essential certification lasts
A medically essential certification in Florida lasts 12 months under Florida Statute 366.15. A utility must mail recertification materials at least 30 days before a certification expires. After it expires, a customer then has a separate 30 day window to send the completed recertification forms back, and if the utility does not receive them within that window, the utility may end the certification. Those are 2 different 30 day windows on either side of the same expiration date, not the same deadline counted twice. Florida law also puts the responsibility for backup equipment on the customer, stating that a medically essential customer is solely responsible for any backup equipment or power supply and a plan for a power outage.
The 2 rows both showing 30 days are 2 different windows, one before a certification expires and one after, not a repeated figure.
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| Full recertification cycle | 365 |
| Notice mailed before expiration | 30 |
| Window to respond after expiration | 30 |
Nationally, over 4,600,000 Medicare beneficiaries depend on electricity powered medical equipment at home, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services own emPOWER program page. That federal count spans every state and is not a Florida specific or a Duke Energy specific figure.