With the winter season unraveling and the days being in the lower temperatures, Community Services is helping to ease the financial strains households may be facing through the state-led Energy Assistance program.

Community Services does not spearhead the program alone, but rather acts as a facilitator in a multifaceted service for applicants seeking assistance that comes from the state, and flows to the local level.

“We basically do the intake process for North Haven residents, for determination of their energy applications,” said Carla Picard of Community Services. “We are helping the Community Action Agency of New Haven, who's the local action agency working with the state of Connecticut to process [and] do the determinations of eligibility for people coming in for heating assistance.”

The Services department has been accepting applications since Nov. 1 and will continue with fuel authorizations or deliveries until the March 15 deadline. May 31 will mark the final day a household can apply to establish its eligibility for energy and water benefits.

Picard said the application begins via a phone appointment with Community Services to gather basic information for all household tenets intended for assistance, including Social Security, date of birth, and income for individuals 18 years or older. After providing general information, applicants should come into the department’s office at the Town Hall Annex building for further review of previously given demographic information and to provide additional documentation providing proof of income from the 30 days prior to the date of application or from the four consecutive weeks within three months prior to the application date.

“If somebody has a full-time job, I’ll need four weeks of pay stubs. If somebody has Social Security, I’ll need their most recent award letter or disability award letter. If they receive food stamps, [I’ll need] their award,” said Picard. “So all of the proof of any kind of income coming into the household.”

Community Services will also need to know how applicants' homes are heated and will need their most recent bills for either or both gas and United Illuminating (UI) Company electric-based heating, the latter also applying to oil heating. Water is a recently added utility to be considered by the state for the second year in a row, according to Picard.

“Now we’re asking for the most recent water bill, and if people have past due balances on their water, those are the people getting help,” said Picard.

Eligibility for assistance runs from the top-down to North Haven, as the Connecticut State Department of Social Services determines that benefits are based upon a household’s tenant size and gross annual income. Benefits are available for households whose incomes do not exceed 60 percent of the state median income level. The Town and state have determined the maximum income for program eligibility for a family of four to be up to $76,465, while at the lower end is a yearly income of $39,791 for a single-dweller home.

While assistance is mainly targeted towards those falling short of the median income level, Picard pointed out that households in North Haven who do not qualify according to state guidelines but still need assistance can seek help from Operation Fuel. This private, non-state affiliated option would be for residents who make too much to qualify for state eligibility, but whose marginally higher incomes are still not enough to sustain payment on utilities.

“Those people who are over income for the state program could go to Operation Fuel, and get, even if it’s a one-time assist, upwards to $1,000 for their oil, gas, or electric — however they heat their homes,” Picard said.

After eligibility is determined, the department will identify an approved vendor with the state to handle an applicant’s paperwork, with a window of review in New Haven lasting up to 45 business days.

The need for assistance has been more pronounced than in previous years, according to Picard, who says the number of applications Community Services has received since the beginning of November has increased to a higher rate than usual.

“We’re slowly approaching 250 applications. In previous years, we haven't really gone past 180, 185, so we’re already well beyond the number of applications,” said Picard. “By this time, it’s usually just [a] trickling-in of people coming for appointments, [but] we’re still booked out [for] weeks.”

Reasons can range from increased costs of living facing all demographics, the fuel usage included, and fixed income rates for seniors, among other factors. Picard said senior citizens are the most targeted demographic in North Haven for assistance.

“I think that’s another reason why we’re starting to see more people applying for gas and electric that we never saw before,” Picard said. “Our biggest rise has been our seniors. Word travels like wildfire in the senior housing complexes for sure. We’ve had a lot of them over the years, but we probably have everyone in the complexes. It’s the fixed incomes, those on Social Security. We do have multigenerational families, widows, there’s really all walks of life.”

With a greater number of applicants approaching Community Services, Picard said the department is looking to help as many as they can and do not want to make the process difficult or a waste of time for those who may not submit all necessary information. The latter especially, since applicants seeking assistance should be clear about whether they qualify for state help or not, and if they have all the appropriate paperwork that is also delivered on time.

“There should be no reason for someone to be denied based on something we haven’t done on our end,” she said. “The only reason people are getting denied is because they are over-income or they did not follow through on requested documentation that was asked of them. We should have no one being denied, especially if we’re clear about what the income guideline is beforehand. We want to process as many as we can, and help as many people as we can.”

Community members can get involved in easing the financial strains some homeowners may be facing on their utilities by donating to the town’s emergency fuel fund and to Operation Fuel as well.

Appointments to begin the application process are available at Community Services number at 203-239-2566. Additional information on eligibility regarding income can be found on the department’s website under the “Support Services” tab.