Section 16a-41(b)-10 - Application process(a) Service provider agencies and their designees shall use a standard application form provided by the Department.(b) All individuals shall be allowed to file an application.(c) Service provider agencies and their designees shall take simultaneous applications from individuals for any energy, utility, weatherization or conservation loans, audits, assistance, or service made available by the Commissioner and administrated by the service provider agency.(d) Service provider agencies shall take whatever actions are necessary to insure that elderly and disabled individuals are not denied equal access to the program due to their age or physical condition, including, but not limited to, the provision of home visits where necessary.(e) Service provider agencies and their designees shall attempt to locate interpreters for applicants whose primary language is not English.(f) Applicant households who are denied energy assistance due to missing documentation and/or incomplete applications shall provide the required information/documentation within ten (10) days from the applicant household's receipt of the notice of ineligibility. Should the applicant household fail to provide the required information/documentation within the allotted time, and if assistance is still being sought, the applicant household will be required to reapply, documenting the most recent four (4) week period, or six (6) calendar months if someone in the applicant household is self-employed.(g) As a condition of initial and continuing eligibility, the applicant or service recipient shall make himself or herself available for a personal interview at a location designated by the service provider agency.(h) The application or service recipient shall cooperate with the Department's fraud early detection (FRED) program by completing all required forms, cooperating and participating in home visits by FRED investigators, responding to interview appointments and by making all requested records or information available to the Department. The applicant or service recipient who does not cooperate, as determined by the Department, may be ineligible until they cooperate.(i) The applicant or service recipient shall verify all information pertaining to eligibility as required by the Department or its agents. Verification shall include, but not be limited to, a household's included income or excluded income as defined in Section 16a-41(b) -1. Denial or discontinuance of assistance shall result from failure to provide verification of information deemed by the Department or its agents to be essential to the determination or redetermination of eligibility.(j) The applicant or service recipient or his or her duly authorized representative shall have access to his or her application file during the regular business hours of the service provider agency which received his or her application.(k) The applicant or service recipient shall, within twenty-eight (28) days, excluding state designated holidays, from the date of application or reapplication have a decision rendered that eligibility has been approved or that eligibility has been denied or discontinued.(l) The service provider agency shall mail a notice of approval or denial to the applicant or service recipient. Such notice shall be postmarked within twenty-eight (28) days, excluding state designated holidays, of the date of application.(m) If the primary heating fuel is deliverable, the service provider agency shall issue payment to the vendor within thirty (30) days of receipt of a bill. If the primary heating fuel is provided by a utility, payment will be issued directly to the vendor, providing that verification of the service recipient's account number has been provided.(n) A service provider agency or its designee shall provide each applicant with a notice of applicant rights and service availability as part of the application process. The notice shall contain a listing of the dates by which applications will be received and bills must be presented for payment in the Energy Assistance program. All program participants shall comply with those scheduled dates for the submission of applications and presentment of bills for payment.Conn. Agencies Regs. § 16a-41(b)-10
Effective July 30, 1992; Amended March 7, 2007