LIHEAP AT 2016-5 Revised Reporting Instructions for the Household Report FY 2015

TO:    LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) GRANTEES

ACTION
INTENDED FOR:       X  STATES
                                       TRIBES/TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS
                                   X  TERRITORIES

SUBJECT:     Revised Reporting Instructions for the LIHEAP Household Report

RELATED                 
REFERENCES:    Sections 2605(c)(1)(G) and 2610(b) of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (title XXVI of Public Law 97-35, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended); 45 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 96; House Report 103-483 and Senate Report 103-251 or S. 2000, the predecessor to Public Law 103-252 (the Human Services Amendments of 1994); OMB Control No. 0970-0060 (Expiration Date─October 31, 2014); Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; LIHEAP Information Transmittal (IM) 09-03, dated January 26, 2009; LIHEAP Action Transmittal (AT) 11-06, dated July 25, 2011.

PURPOSE:   To inform state and territorial LIHEAP Grantees of revisions in the instructions for the LIHEAP Household Report Long Form for FY 2015 regarding how to report nominal payments.

To advise State and Territorial LIHEAP Grantees that the deadline for submitting revised LIHEAP Household Report-Long Form for FY 2015 (for the period of October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015) is April 20, 2016.

BACKGROUND:   In November 2015, the Office of Community Services (OCS) issued LIHEAP-AT-2016-3 which included instructions to treat any LIHEAP benefit payment of less than $50 as a nominal payment.  The reason behind that instruction related to obtaining data related to households that receive an ancillary LIHEAP benefit that some states target to SNAP recipient households.  The instructions also tried to provide some consistency in how states reported the count of such households.

CONTENT:    After issuing the previous instructions, some state grantees, including the Performance Measures Implementation Work Group (PMIWG) alerted OCS to some unintended challenges in providing such data. As a result, OCS is now revising the guidance on how to report on those households that received a LIHEAP nominal benefit payment that deviates from the state’s regular LIHEAP payment matrix because the household is a SNAP recipient and has a minimal energy burden.  In other words, only states that have a separate LIHEAP payment amount for SNAP recipient households need to report those households as nominal payment households.

Other types of small benefit amounts that are part of the state’s payment matrix or targeting other populations are not be included in the count of nominal payment households.

Next Steps:  For states and territories that never submitted their form, please move forward with submitting the state’s form in the Online Data Collection system (OLDC) based on this revised guidance.

For states and territories that already submitted their form and Federal staff will review and work with the state staff to make adjustments and resubmit the form, as needed.  If state or territorial staff believe based on revised guidance, they should consult with their DEA liaison. If appropriate, state or territorial staff can then submit a “Revised” form in OLDC.

INQUIRIES TO:   For questions regarding accurate completion of the LIHEAP Household Report, contact:

Leon Litow, Lead Energy Assistance Program Specialist
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services
Administration for Children and Families, HHS
Washington, D.C.  20447
202-401-5304 (Voice)
202-401-5661 (Fax)
llitow@acf.hhs.gov
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/

SUBMISSION TO:   The deadline for state and territorial grantees to submit to OLDC their revised LIHEAP Household Report for FY 2015 is April 20, 2016.  The date may be extended if OCS agrees to a later date.  However, extensions of the April 20^th deadline may not be made unless the grantee requests the extension before the deadline.

OLDC report forms can be accessed here:  https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/ssi/ .  If you have not yet created an account in OLDC, contact your LIHEAP regional liaison for assistance.  Also, for questions regarding accessing OLDC and or completing the OLDC form, contact your LIHEAP regional liaison.

ATTACHMENT:

A.   Revised Portion of Reporting Instructions Concerning the Count of LIHEAP Households that Received Nominal Benefits for the LIHEAP Household Report Long Form for FY 2015.

                                                                                    /s/
                                                                                    Jeannie Chaffin
                                                                                    Director
                                                                                    Office of Community Services