ARM 37.70.601. BENEFIT AWARD

(1) The benefit matrices in (1)(c) and (1)(d) are used to establish the benefit payable to an eligible household for a full heating season. The benefit varies by household income level, type of primary heating fuel, the type of dwelling (single family unit, multi-family unit, mobile home), the number of bedrooms in the dwelling, and the heating districts in which the household is located, to account for climatic differences across the state. (a) The benefit payable to an eligible household will be computed by multiplying the applicable amount in the table of base benefit levels found in (1)(c) by the applicable matrix amount in the table of income/climatic adjustment multipliers found in (1)(d). (b) Applicants may claim no more bedrooms than household members except that single elderly and disabled individual households are entitled to claim two bedrooms if their dwelling unit contains more than one bedroom. (c) The following table of base benefit levels takes into account the number of bedrooms in a house, the type of dwelling structure, and the type of fuel used as a primary source of heating: TABLE OF BENEFIT LEVELS (i) SINGLE FAMILY # BEDROOMS NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC PROPANE FUEL OIL WOOD COAL ONE $ 382 $ 417 $ 549 $ 710 $ 297 $ 169 TWO 555 606 798 1,032 432 246 THREE 756 825 1,087 1,406 588 335 FOUR 1,040 1,135 1,495 1,934 809 461 (ii) MULTI-FAMILY # BEDROOMS NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC PROPANE FUEL OIL WOOD COAL ONE $ 323 $ 352 $ 464 $ 754 $ 251 $ 143 TWO 486 530 699 1,136 378 215 THREE 714 778 1,025 1,667 554 316 FOUR 834 909 1,198 1,947 647 369 (iii) MOBILE HOME # BEDROOMS NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC PROPANE FUEL OIL WOOD COAL ONE $ 322 $ 351 $ 462 $ 627 $ 250 $ 143 TWO 470 513 676 917 366 208 THREE 624 680 896 1,215 485 276 FOUR 696 759 1,000 1,356 541 308 (d) The following table is based upon the household's income as a percentage of the federal poverty guideline and adjusted for climatic differences in the ten human resource development council service areas in the state of Montana: TABLE OF INCOME/CLIMATIC ADJUSTMENT MULTIPLIERS PERCENT OF POVERTY AEM IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII 0 - 11 1.00 1.08 0.98 0.99 0.93 1.02 1.08 0.90 0.92 1.09 > 11 - 23 0.95 1.02 0.94 0.94 0.89 0.97 1.03 0.86 0.87 1.04 > 23 - 35 0.90 0.97 0.89 0.89 0.84 0.92 0.98 0.81 0.82 0.98 > 35 - 47 0.85 0.92 0.84 0.84 0.79 0.87 0.92 0.77 0.78 0.93 > 47 - 59 0.80 0.86 0.79 0.79 0.75 0.82 0.87 0.72 0.73 0.87 > 59 - 71 0.75 0.81 0.74 0.74 0.70 0.77 0.81 0.68 0.69 0.82 > 71 - 83 0.70 0.75 0.69 0.69 0.65 0.71 0.76 0.63 0.64 0.76 > 83 - 95 0.65 0.70 0.64 0.64 0.61 0.66 0.70 0.59 0.60 0.71 > 95 - 107 0.60 0.65 0.59 0.59 0.56 0.61 0.65 0.54 0.55 0.65 >107 - 119 0.55 0.59 0.54 0.54 0.51 0.56 0.60 0.50 0.50 0.60 >119 - 131 0.50 0.54 0.49 0.49 0.47 0.51 0.54 0.45 0.46 0.55 >131 - 143 0.45 0.48 0.44 0.44 0.42 0.46 0.49 0.41 0.41 0.49 >143 - 150* 0.40 0.43 0.39 0.39 0.37 0.41 0.43 0.36 0.37 0.44 *This category also applies to those whose income exceeds 150% of the poverty guideline and meets the criteria of ARM 37.70.406(1)(a).