§ 2605 - Benefit amounts
§ 2605. Benefit amounts
(a) The secretary shall by rule establish a table that specifies for households for which the cost of heat is not supplied by the landlord, maximum annual home heating fuel assistance benefit amounts. The maximum benefit amounts contained within this table shall vary by household size and annual household income. The annual home heating fuel assistance benefit for households that make undesignated payments for energy for home heat in the form of rent, and for households that pay room rent and who are not members of the same household with other residents of the dwelling unit, shall be the amounts established in section 2604(c)(1) of this title.
(b) The secretary shall by rule establish a table that specifies maximum percentages of applicant households' annual heating fuel costs, based on the proxy table established pursuant to section 2604(b) of this title, that can be authorized for payment as annual home heating fuel assistance benefits for the following year. The maximum percentages contained within this table shall vary by household size and annual household income. In no instance shall the percentage exceed 90 percent.
(c) Annually, based on the number of eligible households that have applied, and for which the cost of heat is not supplied by the landlord, these households' individual incomes and individual annual heating fuel cost, based on the proxy table established pursuant to subsection 2604(b) of this title, the number of eligible households that have applied and for which the cost of heat is supplied by the landlord, the cost of benefits for these households, and the amount of funds available in the home heating fuel assistance fund for the purpose of providing annual home heating fuel assistance benefits, the secretary shall, by procedure, set the payment rate that shall be used to determine the amount of annual home heating fuel assistance for which each household for which the cost of heat is not supplied by the landlord qualifies. In no event shall the payment rate be greater than 100 percent of the maximum percentage established by rule as required by subsection (b) of this section.
(d) In the case of a household for which the cost of heat is not supplied by the landlord, the household's annual home heating fuel assistance benefit is the household's annual heating fuel cost for the previous year as defined in section 2604(b) of this title, multiplied by the maximum percentage for that household found in the table established by subsection (b) of this section, multiplied by the payment rate established in subsection (c) of this section. In no event, however, shall the benefit paid for these households exceed the maximum benefit for a household of its income and size as established by rule as required in subsection (a) of this section. The annual home heating fuel assistance benefit for households that make undesignated payments for energy for home heat in the form of rent, and for households that pay room rent and who are not members of the same household with other residents of the dwelling unit, shall be the amounts established in subdivision 2604(c)(1) of this title.
(e) [Repealed.] (Added 1995, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 10, 1996; amended 1997, No. 2, § 69, eff. Feb. 12, 1997; 1999, No. 59, § 4, eff. June 1, 1999; 2007, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 22; 2009, No. 1 (Sp. Sess.), § E.324.4.)