ARM 37.70.601. BENEFIT AWARD

(1) Except as provided in (2), 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 $ 395 $ 596 $ 946 $1,209 $ 540 $ 365 TWO 575 866 1,375 1,757 786 531 THREE 783 1,180 1,874 2,394 1,070 723 FOUR 1,077 1,624 2,578 3,294 1,473 995 (ii) MULTI-FAMILY # BEDROOMS NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC PROPANE FUEL OIL WOOD COAL ONE $ 334 $ 504 $ 800 $1,285 $ 456 $ 308 TWO 503 759 1,205 1,935 687 464 THREE 739 1,114 1,768 2,839 1,008 682 FOUR 863 1,301 2,066 3,317 1,178 796 (iii) MOBILE HOME # BEDROOMS NATURAL GAS ELECTRIC PROPANE FUEL OIL WOOD COAL ONE $ 333 $ 502 $ 797 $1,068 $ 455 $ 308 TWO 487 734 1,165 1,561 666 450 THREE 646 973 1,545 2,070 882 596 FOUR 721 1,086 1,724 2,310 985 666 (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) (2) Eligible households who are residents of publicly subsidized housing whose energy costs are included as a portion of their rent and whose rent is a fixed portion of their income will receive one payment of $50 for the entire five-year period from the date of application and are not eligible for low income energy assistance benefits provided for in (1).