Troubleshooting – LIEAP

Utility Bill in Guardian Conservator’s Name

For LIEAP if the utility bill(s) are in the name of someone other than an adult household member or the landlord, the household is not eligible for a benefit. The exception to this rule is if the bill is in the name of the Primary Applicant’s Guardian Conservator. For this situation, a payment check must be sent to the consumer in order to pay the utility vendor instead of the payment going directly to the utility vendor from KEES.

Scenario: A Guardian Conservator completes and submits a LIEAP application for the consumer. The utility bill(s) are in the Guardian Conservator’s name, but they do not live in the home. If the household meets all other LIEAP eligibility requirements, on the Energy Information Detail page:

  1. Enter the Begin Date as the first day of the application month, using the <mm/dd/yyyy> format or the calendar icon.
  2. In the Payments section, select the Payments made from the drop-down menu.
  3. Select a Verified value from the drop-down menu.
  4. Select Make all of my energy benefit payable to my heating vendor from the LIEAP Payment Options drop-down menu.
  5. In the Fuel and Dwelling section, select Bill in landlord’s name OR Energy cost included in rent from the Fuel Bill drop-down menu.
  6. Complete all remaining required fields as appropriate.
  7. Click the Save and Return button. If there was an existing record the Effective Dating Confirmation List page displays.  Verify the Begin and End Dates are correct, then click the Save button. The Energy Information List page displays.

Transferring a Credit Balance to a New Vendor when a Consumer Moves

When a consumer moves after their LIEAP benefit has been approved, and there is a credit balance, the remaining amount can be credited to a new vendor. However, the LIEAP benefit cannot be reissued to a new vendor until the requested funds from the previous vendor are returned.  LIEAP Supervisors should follow the steps below to issue the credited amount to the new vendor.

A.      Requesting funds from original vendor:

  1. Update the Consumer’s Address. See Contact Summary – LIEAP for detailed steps.
  2. Update the Worker ID on the LIEAP program block if needed. See Reassign a Program Block – Non-Medical for detailed steps.
  3. Request approved funds back from the original vendor and create an External Recovery Account. Remember to select Wrong Vendor from the Reason drop-down menu. Also, complete the Comments section with the vendor information on the Recovery Account Detail page since the recovery account is being set up to track money coming back from a vendor.  See Creating an External Recovery Account – LIEAP for detailed steps.
  4. Journal all case action.  

B.      Issuing returned funds to new vendor:

NOTE: Only complete these steps after DCF Admin has posted the recovered funds to the recovery account.

  1. Add a new Energy Information Detail record if needed. Use the first day of the original application month as the Begin Date. See Add Energy Information for detailed steps.    
  2. Add the new Vendor information to the Money Management Detail page. Remember to make the previous vendor a Priority 3 and the new vendor a Priority 1. See Money Management for detailed steps.
  3. Run EDBC for the original application month.
  4. Override the Benefit Amount on EDBC if needed to only issue the credited amount. See Overriding LIEAP EDBC for detailed steps.  
  5. Journal all case action.