Hello grantees!
Since we’ve been working on completing our Performance Measures forms, I wanted to share a tip on getting more electric companies to furnish billing data: split your benefits!
In Minnesota, we allow clients to split their LIHEAP grant between their heating bill and their electric bill. This way, many more vendors can get LIHEAP grants, especially cooperatives and municipal electric companies. So, these electric vendors miss out on benefit monies if they don’t sign on to vendor agreements, even if they serve no electric main-heat LIHEAP clients. This encourages them to sign agreements and send data.
Partially because we allow split benefits, we’ve been very successful at getting electric data, even from clients that heat with delivered fuels. This year, we were able to get complete billing data on more than 70% of our clients, and more than 80% of our clients that use delivered fuels.
This helps us meet our reporting requirements. Also, we’ve been especially successful getting agreements with our smaller electric vendors, which is helping us get a better picture of electric costs for clients in the more rural parts of the state. In addition, vendors who were already supplying data have become more reliable on sending their data on clients who don’t have electric heat. Overall, it’s been a big success.
Have a great day!
Tracy Smetana, Minnesota