13000 Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP)

 

13100 Program Summary

The Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) is federally funded assistance which helps qualifying households pay home energy costs through the issuance of a single annual benefit. The Kansas LIEAP program is defined as a "Heating Only" program based on federal program definitions and is designed to assist households with their winter heating costs. The benefit is to assist households in the purchase of home heating.  To be eligible, applicants must meet the following criteria:

 

  1. Combined income of all persons living at the address must not exceed 150% of the federal poverty level; 

  2. An adult household member must be personally responsible for purchasing heating fuel costs incurred at the current residence, payable either to the landlord or to the fuel vendor;

  3. The household must meet citizenship or lawful residency requirements; and
     

  4. The household must meet application requirements.
     

This section establishes the policies and eligibility criteria according to regulations governed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community Services.

 

A separate application, specifically for LIEAP, is used to determine eligibility due to the requirements for heating and cooling account numbers, fuel type heating systems and other unique information that is not available through existing system data. Completed applications will be accepted during the designated application period. While the start date will vary in any given year, the application period ends the last business day of March in the program year.
 

Information on how to apply on-line will be mailed to prior year LIEAP recipients, current TANF and Food Assistance recipients. The information will also explain how to get a paper application if that is their preference. Applications will also be available through local helping agencies, utilities and via on-line access.

 

Applications are submitted to the designated DCF Regional LIEAP processing office for eligibility determination.

 

Eligibility determination and benefit issuance uses a system on-line to EES Administration. Benefits are issued from EES Administration throughout the program. Households experiencing a fuel supply shortage, or an actual disconnect receive expedited processing according to federal requirements.

 

Due to significant differences in federal program purposes and regulations, households may be eligible for LIEAP but not TANF or Food Assistance or vice versa. For instance, if a TANF mother and her child live with other friends or relatives, the income from all persons is countable in determining LIEAP eligibility while TANF considers only the mother and child's income. In addition, TANF and other persons who live in subsidized housing may not meet the vulnerability requirements if their federally subsidized rental units include the heating energy costs in the rent subsidy.

 

13110 DCF Regional Office Responsibilities - Regional Directors are responsible for assuring that potential applicants have adequate access to program information. Activities may include:
 

  1. Providing LIEAP application information to new food assistance and cash cases at intake from the beginning of the application period through the last business day of March;

  2. Providing information and referral services to clients requesting information about applying for LIEAP benefits and/or submission of applications;

  3. Developing processes for the handling of applications submitted to a local DCF office to assure timely submission to the DCF Regional LIEAP processing office.