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VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT

OF SOCIAL SERVICES ENERGY ASSISTANCE

10/16 VOLUME IX, CHAPTER J, PAGE 4

a. Pending

If an application is pending and additional verifications or other information is needed, the LDSS must notify the applicant, in writing, what is required. A deadline of 10 calendar days or less is to be provided for the return of verifications or information. The burden of proof rests with the applicant; however, if requested, assistance in obtaining verifications should be provided by the LDSS. Required verifications and information may be submitted in various ways including in person, by mail, by a third party, by fax or over the phone. If the applicant fails to provide the needed information prior to or anytime on the day of the deadline date, the application is denied. Eligibility must be determined in the Cooling Assistance system within three (3) working days of all information being received.

b. Local Agency Denial

There are some reasons for denial of an application that the Cooling Assistance system cannot determine, and those reasons require denial to be determined and entered by the LDSS worker. In all denial situations, a Client Notice of Action will be issued to the applicant. If a manual/local denial is necessary, the worker must enter one of the denial codes found in Chapter D, 3.

c. Eligibility Determination

The Cooling Assistance system will screen each case entered with an "ED" disposition code. The following elements will be evaluated at this stage of processing.

Citizenship Household Size Monthly Income Vulnerability

The Cooling Assistance system will calculate the dollar value of the medical deduction for the number of elderly and/or disabled individuals entered in the medical deduction field and deduct this amount to determine the countable income for screening purposes.

TRANSMITTAL #16-2