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Iowa LIHEAP Policy and Procedures Manual 11.00 Payments

Effective 09/01/2023

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11.30 Household *Direct payments to eligible households must be approved by the state office in all circumstances with the exception of the following:

● When both primary and secondary utilities are included in the rent and the account is in the landlord’s name (Non-subsidized households, and only regarding LIHEAP Regular Assistance).

● When a CAA is unable to locate a vendor for a deliverable fuel LIHEAP customer (e.g., vendor will not sign a Deliverable Fuel Vendor Agreement, or a vendor is not able to service the tank because it belongs to a different vendor, the household has a small tank (e.g., 20 gallon) and the vendor will not make a delivery or a fill, etc.), they are required to offer a choice of either a direct pay to the LIHEAP customer or payment to a secondary vendor, and the deliverable fuel LIHEAP customer chooses a direct pay.*

● Vendor circumstances as outlined in Section 13.00 of this manual. *

● The assistance award for households whose primary source of heat is wood/coal/corn will be forwarded to the household’s electric supplier if a suitable wood/coal/corn vendor is not available. If no electric supplier exists, a direct payment to the LIHEAP customer may be made. *

* The CAA must have verified documentation for any direct payments.

See Appendix D and Appendix E for more information.

11.40 Water Service Provider/Vendor/Utility Water assistance payments cannot be made directly to the customer. One check may be issued by the agency to a water service provider for more than one household, along with a list of household accounts and the amount of benefit each receives. The LIHWAP customer’s benefit award shall be applied to drinking and wastewater arrearages and any associated fees, taxes, and charges required to resolve the account and either reconnect service or avert disconnection of service.

Payments can be made to a Third-Party that has been authorized by a water service provider to collect debts on their behalf only after receiving approval from CAA Unit. A written request must be submitted detailing why it is necessary to pay the Third-Party rather than the water service provider directly, and approval of this request is at the discretion of CAA Unit staff. A Vendor Agreement must be signed by the Third-Party in order to receive payment. In cases where the Third-Party is simply acting as a debt collector, and is therefore not involved in providing any water services, a Vendor Agreement with an addendum specifying which sections of the standard Vendor Agreement do and do not apply will be supplied by CAA Unit and must be signed by the Third-Party.

The water assistance award is to be applied to the cost of supplying drinking water and wastewater to the household’s primary residence. Households must meet the definition of “water crisis” in order to receive LIHWAP benefits, per Section 20.00.

If the water account is in the landlord’s name and the LIHWAP customer is requesting assistance, the landlord must complete the state-issued Landlord Verification Form and agree that the amount of the benefit will be passed on to the tenant through a “rent reduction” agreement between the landlord and tenant.

11.50 Duplicate Payment Control The CAA is required to provide a system to monitor and prevent possible duplicate applications and payments. Duplication cross checks shall be based on household members’ name, address, and social security number for all household members, as well as vendor account numbers.