Kauai medical equipment power backup rebate pays up to 200 dollars

How to apply for the Kauai medical equipment power backup rebate

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, the member owned electric cooperative that serves only Kauai, opened a medical equipment power backup rebate on January 1, 2026, paying up to 200 dollars per account toward a battery backup or a portable generator. Members qualify if their health depends on medical equipment that needs power to run, such as a breathing machine, a power wheelchair or scooter, oxygen equipment, suction or home dialysis equipment, or refrigerated medication, and if they register on the cooperative medical needs list, verified by a medical professional.

To claim the rebate, a member first registers on the cooperative Elderly and Life Support Program list, the same list that verifies medical need. After buying a battery backup or a portable generator, the member submits the Medical Device Power Backup Program application and an itemized sales receipt as proof of purchase, sent online, by email, by mail or through the cooperative office dropbox. The cooperative pays 1 rebate per account, in the year the equipment was purchased, first come first served, and states it can discontinue the offer or change the rebate amount without notice.

Why the Kauai rebate is live while the Hawaiian Electric plan still waits

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative is a separate company from Hawaiian Electric, the investor owned utility that serves Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Hawaii Island and Lanai. Hawaiian Electric proposed a larger version of the same idea in October 2025, up to 500 dollars for a residential portable generator and up to 1,000 dollars for a residential portable battery, submitted to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission for review and not yet approved. A Kauai member can already claim 200 dollars today, while a Hawaiian Electric customer is still waiting on that regulator a year later for a rebate that would pay more. That gap, a small cooperative already paying a live rebate while a much larger regulated utility still waits on approval, is the clearest sign that utility size, not need, decides how fast this kind of help reaches a household.

How many households have actually used the rebate

Beth Amaro, member services and communications manager at Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, described how the rebate works in an August 2026 interview about storm recovery on Kauai.

It's basically a $200 rebate for a person who is signed up on our list of persons with known medical needs.

Beth Amaro, Member services and communications manager at Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. Source 4.

By August 2026, nearly 100 Kauai households had registered on the medical needs list the rebate requires, but only 5 had actually claimed the 200 dollar rebate, according to Amaro speaking to Hawaii Public Radio. That is about 1 in 20 registered households claiming the rebate so far, a ratio this publication calculates from those 2 figures, not a number either source states directly.

What the pending Hawaiian Electric rebate would cost customers on other islands

Hawaiian Electric estimated the monthly bill impact of its proposed program for a residential customer using 500 kilowatt hours a month, 1.64 dollars on Maui, 1.10 dollars on Hawaii Island and 0.08 dollars on Oahu, and 1.31 dollars for a Molokai or Lanai customer using 400 kilowatt hours. None of those islands is Kauai, since the Hawaiian Electric proposal would only reach areas on Maui, Molokai, Hawaii Island and Oahu where the utility may shut off power on purpose to prevent wildfires.

Brendan Bailey, Hawaiian Electric vice president of customer service, described the reasoning behind the proposed rebate.

We are sensitive to the fact that customers affected by PSPS events may experience extended power outages.

Brendan Bailey, Hawaiian Electric vice president of customer service. Source 5.