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 $ 477 $ 616 $ 900 $ 1,023 $ 527 $ 281 TWO 694 896 1,308 1,486 765 409 THREE 947 1,221 1,782 2,026 1,042 557 FOUR 1,302 1,680 2,452 2,787 1,434 766 (ii) MULTI-FAMILY # BEDROOMS NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC PROPANE FUEL OIL WOOD COAL ONE $ 404 $ 522 $ 761 $ 1,087 $ 445 $ 238 TWO 609 785 1,146 1,637 669 357 THREE 894 1,152 1,682 2,402 982 525 FOUR 1,044 1,346 1,965 2,806 1,147 614 (iii) MOBILE HOME # BEDROOMS NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC PROPANE FUEL OIL WOOD COAL ONE $ 403 $ 519 $ 759 $ 597 $ 444 $ 237 TWO 589 760 1,108 873 649 346 THREE 781 1,007 1,470 1,157 860 459 FOUR 871 1,124 1,001 1,641 959 513 (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).