Effective January 1, 2013

Previous Policy: Food Assistance Change Transmittal (FACT) letter No. 49 was released on November 9, 2012 explaining that, as of January 1, 2013, the standard utility allowance will decrease, the limited utility allowance and the standard telephone allowance will increase, and the single standard utility allowance will remain the same.

New policy: After further negotiation the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) approved a revised utility allowance methodology on November 16, 2012. The amended methodology will change the standard utility allowance from the previously proposed $367 to $456 effective January 1, 2013. The limited utility allowance, single standard utility allowance, and standard telephone allowance remain the same as set forth in FACT 49.

Below are the revised utility allowances to be effective January 1, 2013:

Standard Utility Allowance

$456

Limited Utility Allowance

$301

Single Standard Utility Allowance

$65

Standard Telephone Allowance

$37

Implementation: The changes for the new utility allowances will be implemented via a mass change on the weekend of November 23, 2012. Alerts will be generated and an exception report will be created for all cases which CRIS-E cannot update automatically and the eligibility worker will be required to run ED/BC for those cases to implement these changes. Each assistance group affected by this change will also receive a notice providing their new benefit amount.