Page 196

EAP Policy Manual FFY24 Chapter 8 Benefit Payments and Refunds Page 12 EAP funds always belong to the program; see the Ownership of Assistance section above for more detail. Accurate accounting of refunds requires Service Providers and energy vendors to coordinate carefully. An energy vendor cannot withhold fuel or discontinue energy service if a household’s benefit is delayed due to an energy vendor failure to pay refunds. Recovery of EAP Benefit Overpayment Due to Error or Fraud Error or fraud may result in the overpayment of EAP benefits to or on behalf of a household. The Service Provider must attempt to recover overpayments of $10 or greater. Any overpayment not recovered by adjusting scheduled payments or recalling EAP credit on the household’s energy vendor account must be recovered from the household. All procedures and efforts to recover funds must be documented for audit purposes. See Chapter 10 - Incidents and Appeals, Errors & Fraud section for additional guidance. Refunds for Direct Payments to an Applicant An applicant eligible to receive a direct payment by state warrant but has not received their warrant after a normally expected period of time should contact their local Service Provider. The Service Provider should confirm the applicant’s current mailing address and cross reference that address against the address as shown in eHEAT. A Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) warrant can only be delivered to the address on the warrant. A warrant cannot be forwarded. A Service Provider should contact Donna Leonard at 651-539-1521 or donna.Leonard@state.mn.us to determine the status of the warrant. A warrant returned to MMB will remain there until Commerce is contacted about a missing warrant. Service Providers should contact Donna Leonard at 651-539-1521 or donna.Leonard@state.mn.us to determine the status of the warrant. If the applicant has a new mailing address since applying for EAP or the mailing address is unacceptable by the U.S. Post Office for delivery, then the applicant needs to submit a request to MMB at syscomp.MMB@state.mn.us and they will generate an affidavit for the applicant to complete. Uncashed warrants are periodically cancelled by MMB and returned to Commerce’s account. These are entered as refunds into eHEAT on the date of cancellation. At that point, they are handled via normal refund policies as described in this chapter. Household Changes Energy Vendor If a household needs an energy vendor change after eligibility certification and energy vendor payment, contact the original energy vendor to find out how much of the assistance remains on the account and request a refund of the unused funds.