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DEO LIHEAP Policies and Procedures Manual Page 57

Part 1400 -- Vendor Relations .01 Vendor Agreements Unless special circumstances exist, which permit a subrecipient to make a payment in the form of a two-party check made payable to the client and the energy vendor, the subrecipient shall negotiate and maintain written agreements (the “Vendor Agreement”) with energy vendors which shall at a minimum include: A. The beginning and ending date of the Vendor Agreement. B. The subrecipient’s representative(s) that are authorized to resolve a crisis situation and make a payment commitment on behalf of a client. C. The energy vendor’s representative(s) authorized to resolve a crisis. D. A description of how subrecipient shall make energy payments directly to the energy vendor on behalf of LIHEAP clients. E. Assurance from the energy vendor that no household receiving LIHEAP assistance will be treated adversely by the energy vendor because of such assistance under applicable provisions of state law or public regulatory requirements. F. Assurance from the energy vendor that it will not discriminate, either in the cost of goods supplied or the services provided, against the eligible household on whose behalf payments are made. G. A statement that only energy related elements of a utility bill are to be paid. No water or sewage charges may be paid by the energy vendor to resolve the crisis. H. A statement that the subrecipient may not pay for charges that result from illegal activities such as a bad check or meter tampering. A statement that the energy vendor is aware of those charges are the responsibility of the client. I. A statement that the energy vendor is aware that when the benefit amount does not pay for the complete charges owed by a client, then the client is responsible for paying the remaining amount owed. J. Details on how the energy vendor will assist the subrecipient in verifying the LIHEAP client’s account information and, in the case of crisis assistance, make timely commitments to resolve the crisis. A process should be in place to verify the current amount owed and needed to resolve the crisis situation. K. The subrecipient’s commitment to make payment to the energy vendor no more than forty-five (45) calendar days from the application date. L. A statement that the energy vendor is aware that if LIHEAP payments made to the energy vendor cannot be applied to the client’s account, then the funds will