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essential to retain the home of the applicant/recipient and the resulting carrying charges do not exceed the appropriate maximum of the established rent schedule. (d) Property repairs.

The cost of property repairs must be met when: 1. the property is income-producing and the repairs are essential to retain that status; or 2. the repairs are essential to the health or safety of the applicant/recipient. (e) reserved. Energy Assistance. (a) Tenant and customer of record requirements. Prior to granting energy assistance under subdivisions (b) through (g) of this section, it must be documented that the applicant/recipient/grantee is the tenant and customer of record. A tenant of record is a person who has primary responsibility for payment of the monthly rent or mortgage for the dwelling unit. Individuals who contribute a portion of the monthly rent/mortgage to a person responsible for payment of the monthly rent/mortgage for the dwelling unit will not be considered a tenant of record. A customer of record is a person who has an account in his or her name with a home energy vendor. An individual who is not the tenant and customer of record is considered to meet the tenant and customer of record requirement(s) when such individual is the spouse of the tenant and customer of record who is living in the same household or who is the surviving spouse of a deceased spouse who was the tenant and customer of record. The term home energy vendor means an individual or entity engaged in the business of selling electricity, natural gas, oil, propane, kerosene, coal, wood, or any other fuel used for residential heating and/or domestic (lights, cooking, hot water) energy. (b) Fuel for heating allowances. Each social services district must grant an allowance for fuel for heating to a public assistance applicant/recipient or self-maintaining grantee in receipt of public assistance for a dependent child or children when it is documented that the applicant/recipient/ grantee is the tenant of record, as defined in subdivision (a) of this section, with primary responsibility for payment of the residential heating costs. A fuel for heating allowance must also be granted to a public assistance applicant/recipient/grantee whose utility heating bill may include costs for service for the applicant/recipient/grantee's own residential unit and for space outside that unit or whose non-utility heating bill includes costs for the applicant/recipient/grantee's own residential unit and for other residential units when it is documented that the applicant/recipient/grantee is the tenant and customer of record as defined in subdivision (a) of this section. When a fuel for heating allowance is granted to an applicant/recipient/grantee who is the customer of record for a utility bill which may include costs for service for the applicant/recipient/grantee's own residential unit and for space outside that unit, the social services district must determine whether a referral for a shared meter investigation, in accordance with the provisions of Section 52 of the Public Service Law, is appropriate. To have primary responsibility for the payment of residential heating costs, the applicant/recipient/grantee must be the customer of record, as defined in subdivision (a) of this section, for the residential heating bill with a home energy vendor. Fuel for heating allowances must be provided on a 12-month heating season (October 1st- September 30th) in accordance with the following schedules and must be based upon the applicant/recipient/grantee's primary residential heating source: