3008-3      DISTRIBUTION OF GRANT BETWEEN HEATING AND ELECTRICITY

3008-3 A.      THE 50/50 SPLIT OPTION

While home heating is the priority of this program, applicants may elect to have 50% of their heating assistance benefit applied towards their electric vendor account. This option is allowed because electricity is required to operate select home heating systems, fuel pumps, water heating systems, well pumps, water filtration systems, and food preparation and preservation systems (stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, etc.)

When a client chooses to split their benefit, 50 percent of the grant must be issued to the primary home heating fuel vendor, with the remaining 50 percent issued to the electric vendor. Partial splits, alternative percentages, or discretionary adjustments are not permitted. Use of the 50/50 split must be documented in the case note.

When a client chooses to split their benefit, 50 percent of the grant must be issued to the primary home heating fuel vendor, with the remaining 50 percent issued to the electric vendor. Partial splits, alternative percentages, or discretionary adjustments are not permitted. Use of the 50/50 split must be documented in the case note.

If the applicant requests the 50/50 split option, but the electric account has a credit balance that appears sufficient to cover approximately 12 months of electric expenses from the date of application submission, the electric portion of the grant must not be issued to the electric vendor. The credit balance indicates the household does not have more than $200 in anticipated electric expenses for the 12-month period beginning from the date of application submission and, therefore, does not meet the minimum annual expense requirement for receiving assistance with electricity. This does not make the household ineligible for Heating Assistance if the household otherwise meets the minimum annual expense requirement for the primary heating fuel. If the household is otherwise eligible, 100 percent of the grant must be issued to the primary home heating fuel vendor.

The caseworker must document the requested split, the electric account credit, and the reason the electric portion was not approved in the case note. The eligibility notice must acknowledge the applicant’s request for the 50/50 split and explain why 100 percent of the benefit is being issued to the primary home heating fuel vendor.

Applicants may not elect to have less than 50 percent of the grant issued to electricity. If the applicant does not choose the 50/50 split option, or if the 50/50 split option cannot be approved because the electric account does not meet the minimum annual expense requirement for receiving assistance with electricity, 100 percent of the grant must be issued to the primary home heating fuel vendor, unless an exception under HAPHeating Assistance Program MS 3008-3B applies.

Note:

Secondary and/or tertiary home heating fuel expenses (i.e., supplement or back-up heat sources) are NOT eligible for assistance.

No percentage of the HAPHeating Assistance Program grant should be distributed as a direct payment to the client or a vendor to pay for secondary and/or tertiary home heating fuel expenses.

3008-3 B.      EXCEPTIONS TO THE 50/50 SPLIT OPTION

In the event that a client's electric account has been disconnected or is scheduled for disconnect, the heating assistance benefit can be used to reinstate or prevent electricity disconnect. However, this is only an option if:

• The grant amount available to the client will cover all bad debt and fees the electric company requires the client to pay before reinstating or preventing service disconnection.
• Payment issued to the electric vendor above the 50% split should be the lowest amount the vendor will accept to reinstate service or prevent service disconnection. Any remaining benefit amount should be issued to the client's primary home heating fuel vendor. Reason for the exception must be documented in the case note.

Note:

Some vendors have been set up under more than one fuel type in ECOSEnergy Community Online System (Ex: Perryville-Fuel Oil and Perryville-Electric). If an applicant has the same vendor for both heating and electric, the caseworker must be careful to choose the correct vendor where they want the benefit credited. If they choose to split the benefit between fuel types, the caseworker must issue the fuel portion to the vendor's fuel oil account and the electric portion to the vendor's electric account in order for IRIS to generate the correct payments.