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Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Division 10 Service 415 Program 415 Chapters 05 - 65 North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services

1. Insure that the furnace is not functional or poses a threat to the household’s health and safety.

2. Have the household fill out an application for emergency assistance

3. Determine whether the household is eligible (income and asset)

4. Contact a vendor to repair the furnace (two bids are not needed for furnace repair)

5. When the furnace has been repaired, it should be determined that the household is satisfied with the repair and the vendor’s costs are reasonable. Furnace breakdowns on a weekend may be reimbursed if an eligible household reports to the county immediately on Monday. Households should contact the office in a timely manner to have emergency furnace repair bills paid or reimbursed. Prudent judgment by the eligibility worker is to be used to determine if payment or reimbursement is issued.

Furnace and/or chimney cleaning may be authorized for renters or homeowners who purchase fuel from a vendor, but not for a renter whose heat is included as an undesignated part of the rent. Furnace and/or chimney cleaning should not be authorized if the heating unit services more than one living unit and other households in the building are not LIHEAP recipients.

Requests for furnace/chimney cleanings may be made October 1 - July 31 of the current heating season.

Some LIHEAP eligible households have yearly maintenance contracts with fuel vendors. Vendors are responsible for repairing any appliance in the household including cleaning the furnace. The vendor must notify the county office (unless the household had already requested a furnace cleaning from the vendor) they are going to do a furnace/chimney cleaning and request a furnace/chimney cleaning form from the county office. The vendor then must verify the cleaning by supplying the county office with