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Note: Energy assistance payments issued through SER do not count toward the household’s MEAP cap. 4.4.1 EXCEPTIONS If there are extenuating circumstances, assistance payments that will cause the household to exceed the $3,500 should be forwarded to the MPSC Grant Administrator to be considered for a MEAP exception, using the exception request spreadsheet. Where possible, late fees for over-cap households must be waived by the energy provider. Contact the MEAP Grant Administrator for a copy of the request spreadsheet. Consideration should be given to payment history, annual usage, and engagement in self-sufficiency services among others (e.g., balance transfers, hardship). A household must have engaged in at least one self-sufficiency/energy security activity to have an exception considered. 4.4.2 BILL TRANSFERS Utility and customer rights and responsibilities can become complicated. The MPSC Grant Administrator has heard of many situations of a Grantee assisting a client with a high arrearage balance due to the fact that a previous unpaid bill was transferred to the client’s utility bill. A utility may transfer an unpaid balance for gas or electric service at a previous address when a customer moves and opens a new account. A utility may also transfer all or a portion of an unpaid balance if the customer opening a new account lived in a person’s residence when all or part of a gas or electric debt was incurred within the past three years, and the person with the delinquent account currently resides with the customer. MPSC has a staff of regulation officers that assist customers to resolve utility complaints and inquiries. The MPSC Grant Administrator will forward all instances of utility bill transfers with high arrearage to MPSC regulation officers to investigate to ensure that the bill transfer was made in compliance with MPSC consumer standards and billing rules, prior to approving any cap exceptions. If Grantee has any other client utility issues that need to be investigated or resolved, regulation officers can be reached at 800-292-9555. Identify that you are a MEAP Grantee working on behalf of a client or ask your client to call MPSC at 800-292-9555 to resolve their utility issue. 4.5 STATE EMERGENCY RELIEF (SER) A MEAP household must receive an SER payment for each commodity that the MEAP grantee is providing support for during that fiscal year. SER policy will allow the issuance of more than one heat payment and more than one payment for non-heat electricity, up to the fiscal year SER cap. Subsequent requests for SER exceeding the cap (for the same commodity) would be denied. At the time of denial, the household would be referred to a MEAP grantee by contacting 211. Note: A household that applies for SER in September but is approved for SER and seeks assistance from a MEAP Grantee during the valid 30-day SER period in October would be considered eligible during that fiscal year.