Page 34

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES ENERGY ASSISTANCE

10/16 VOLUME IX, CHAPTER C, PAGE 1

Receipt of assistance from the Fuel Assistance component is contingent upon a determination of eligibility resulting from submission of an application or an automatic enrollment by the State. The LDSS will not have to process an application for automatic enrollment cases, but they will be responsible for case maintenance activities.

1. HANDLING APPLICATIONS

The Fuel Assistance application is used for most households. Applications for Fuel Assistance are mailed by the State with preprinted information from either the Energy Assistance database or the SNAP database to households which received Fuel or Crisis Assistance the prior year or Cooling Assistance the same year.

Processing the application means: securing vendor designation and account number information when needed, entering codes for new or changed information in the system in order for the system to determine eligibility, establish benefit amounts and initiate the appropriate payment method. The LDSS must use the Worksheet/Evaluation form for the appropriate Energy Assistance component when processing an application.

LDSS are responsible for reviewing all applications for completeness and consistency. Household composition will be determined and the verification of information will be handled in accordance with the remainder of this chapter. The treatment of an application and the amount of information needing verification differs for a household in which all persons receive public assistance, none receive public assistance, or only some receive public assistance as defined in Chapter B.5. The LDSS must inform the applicant in writing of any verifications or other information (e.g. designation of a fuel vendor) that are required. A deadline of 10 calendar days or less is to be provided for the return of verifications or information. Assistance necessary to obtain verifications will 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 any time the day of, the deadline, it will be denied.

If the applicant provides the necessary verifications prior to benefit determination, even after the application period has ended, the agency has the discretion to determine eligibility based on the original application. This decision should be made at the beginning of the program and the LDSS must be consistent in applying the guidance to all applicants.

2. GENERAL VERIFICATIONS

The following rules apply when new or changed information is provided.

a. Any verification available in the LDSS' records must be used prior to requesting other verifications, unless the verification is questionable.

TRANSMITTAL #16-2