9 Energy Suppliers,, 2605(b)(7) - Assurance 7

9.1 Do you make payments directly to home energy suppliers? Heating Yes No Cooling Yes No Crisis Yes No Are there exceptions? Yes No If yes, Describe. 9.2 How do you notify the client of the amount of assistance paid? Confirmation letters are sent to the applicants after approval and certification of their application. The amount of the assistance is provided in the letter. 9.3 How do you assure that the home energy supplier will charge the eligible household, in the normal billing process, the difference between the actual cost of the home energy and the amount of the payment? Participating vendors agree to this in the annual vendor agreement. Deliverable fuel vendors submit delivery tickets for fuel delivered with grant funds. Using delivery tickets, remaining balances are tracked by the subrecipient in state software system and if there are remaining grant balances these are used to the next delivery to the recipient. Utility vendors notify subrecipients of closed accounts and of grants not applied to utility accounts for other reasons so issue can be resolved (spelling or account number issue). Grant recipients are informed of the amount of their grant in their confirmation letter, so they can determine if that amount was credited to their utility account or deliveried to their home. In the annual vendor agreement, vendors agree to make records available. RI DHS monitors vendors. 9.4 How do you assure that no household receiving assistance under this title will be treated adversely because of their receipt of LIHEAP assistance? Participating vendors agree to this in the annual vendor agreement. In the agreement, each vendor agrees that to ensure that LIHEAP households they service will be treated the same as their other customers. This provision is reinforced at required annual meeting/training. In vendor monitoring for deliverable fuel, we check the delivery ticket of a LIHEAP households and a non LIHEAP household from the same day to make sure both are receiving the same price per gallon. 9.5. Do you make payments contingent on unregulated vendors taking appropriate measures to alleviate the energy burdens of eligible households? Yes No If so, describe the measures unregulated vendors may take. Attach a copy of the template statewide vendor agreement or a policy that indicates local agreements must adhere to statewide policies and assurances. If any of the above questions require further explanation or clarification that could not be made in the fields provided, attach a document with said explanation here.