Payment Procedures 415-35

(Revised 10/01 ML #2711)

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The applicant's responsibility for the energy bill must be established before any payments can be made by LIHEAP, especially if the bill is not in the applicant's name. The vendor and LIHEAP need to agree that it is appropriate to have other than the head of the household’s name on the bill. Once responsibility is established there are several options to make the payment:

  1. The vendor can bill LIHEAP directly if the company is able to assure proper credit to the LIHEAP household even if the bill is in another name (415-35-10);
  2. The county can generate the payment to the vendor if the vendor can assure proper crediting and if the household agrees that sending the check to the vendor will not cause problems with old bills (415-35-20-15-05.3);
  3. The county can generate a reimbursement to the household if the family pays the bill first (415-35-20-20-05);
  4. The county can generate the payment to a third party under certain conditions (415-35-40);
  5. The county can generate a payment to the household even if the family hasn't paid the bill, as long as the county has a means of assuring that the payment will get to the party who provided the energy services (415-35-20-20-20).

 

Options #4 and 5 should be used only as a last resort.