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EAP Policy Manual FFY24 Chapter 4 Primary Heat Page 6 Does the household heat with municipal steam or district energy? Some households have a steam energy vendor. This is different from steam heat generated by a boiler that uses natural gas, oil, or propane. Vendor-supplied steam heat is not common, and is only available in a few parts of Minnesota. EAP recognizes two steam fuel types: • Municipal Steam is available in downtown Duluth, Hibbing, New Ulm, and Virginia. • District Energy is available in the Lowertown and Mount Airy neighborhoods of St. Paul through St. Paul District Energy. To document these fuel types accurately, Service Providers in these locations must obtain comprehensive descriptions of service areas from local steam energy vendors. Does the household heat with biofuel and use their home for business or have a shared meter? For households in this situation, do not check the ‘Shared meter/Business Use of Home’ box in eHEAT if wood or biofuel is their primary fuel. The backup matrix does not include biofuels. If biofuel is not the household’s primary fuel, the ‘Shared meter/Business Use of Home’ box must be checked. Additionally, if consumption data for the household’s primary heating fuel is not available, biofuel consumption should not be entered. If biofuel consumption has already been entered, make it invalid. The backup matrix will be used in place of actual consumption. Does the household subscribe to a solar garden? For households with a solar garden subscription: • In eHEAT, add the solar garden in the Energy Providers section with the fuel type “Solar Electricity.” • If the solar garden is not already in eHEAT, they will have to complete vendor registration. • For consumption, enter the total annual solar garden subscription cost. • If unable to get the solar garden subscription cost, invalidate the electricity provider’s consumption. This provides the most complete picture of the household’s energy costs and results in eHEAT using the electricity back-up matrix to determine the household’s benefit amount. • Solar electricity cannot have a Crisis event because there is no risk of shut-off.