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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

Cost of Heating - High Fuel Consumption Due to Age, Disability, or Health 415-30-15-20 (Revised 10/00 ML #2629) View Archives

Persons who must maintain a home temperature significantly higher than normal due to age, disability, or health which might predispose them to hypothermia may need more fuel than the Estimated Cost of Heat indicates. Therefore, the household's actual co-payments may be more than the household is able to afford.

These households may receive additional LIHEAP payments for their heating costs if their actual heating costs (use previous year's records if necessary) exceed the LIHEAP Estimated Cost of Heating.

To assist these households, the goal is to reduce their Co-payment Percentage to a level that reflects their ability to pay in relation to their true heating costs: 1. Obtain the household record of actual heating costs, and compare it to the LIHEAP Estimated Cost of Heating table. 2. If the actual heating costs are higher, use the actual heating costs for the prior LIHEAP heating season in place of the estimated amount from the LIHEAP tables. In some cases, you may be aware of this situation when you are first calculating the case, and entering the actual heating costs in place of the LIHEAP Estimated Cost will result in the correct LIHEAP Share Percentage from the start. If the issue is raised after the case has already been established on the computer, entering this information as a change will cause the LIHEAP Share Percentage and the customer's Co-payment Percentage to be recomputed. The effective date of the revised LIHEAP Share Percentage will be 5 days from the date the change is entered. 3. If the household does not contact you until some bills have already been paid, you can use miscellaneous payments to increase the amount of the LIHEAP payment on prior bills.