(1) "Annual gross income" means all nonexcluded income including but not limited to wages, salaries, commissions, tips, profits, gifts, interest or dividends, retirement pay, workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, social security retirement and disability payments, supplemental security income payments, veterans administration payments, cash public assistance benefits such as temporary assistance for needy families or tribal, state, or county general relief, and capital gains received by the members of the household in the 12 months immediately preceding the month of application.

(a) For households with self-employment income, annual gross income means annual gross receipts minus self-employment deductions.

(2) "Annual gross receipts" applies to households with income from self-employment and means all income before any deductions, including any nonexcluded income not from self-employment, which was received by members of the household in the 12 months immediately preceding the month of application.

(3) "Disabled individual household" means a household in which resides at least one person who has been determined disabled based on the criteria for disability provided in Title II or Title XVI of the Social Security Act.

(4) "Elderly" means a person who is 60 years of age or older.

(5) "Eligible energy costs" means costs of the various types of energy supplied by the household's fuel vendors. Energy delivered by the household's fuel vendors prior to October 1 is ineligible for payment in the current heating season, except that charges incurred from July 1 through September 30 for propane to heat a residence are eligible for payment in the current heating season. Provided, however, that eligible energy costs may include energy delivered prior to October 1 for applications filed after September 30, when the type of fuel and the vendor's normal billing procedures make the above definition impracticable.

(6) "Heating season" means the period from October 1 to April 30 of the following year. For example, the 1999 through 2000 heating season is the period from October 1, 1999, through April 30, 2000. The department may, however, in its sole discretion, extend the heating season beyond April 30. If the heating season is extended beyond April 30, LIEAP benefits may be applied against energy costs incurred in the additional months of the heating season, but no applications for benefits may be filed after April 30 except as provided in ARM 37.70.305.

(7) "Household" means any individual or group of individuals who are living together as one economic unit for whom residential energy is customarily purchased in common or who make undesignated payments for energy in the form of rent.

(a) Any foster child or foster adult who lives in the household at the time of application and for whom foster care payments are being made may be either included or excluded from the household at the option of the LIEAP applicant. This option must be exercised at the time of application and cannot be changed until a new application for the next heating season is made.

(b) An unborn child may not be counted as a member of the household.

(8) "In-kind income" means goods, services, or other nonmonetary benefits, including but not limited to meals, clothing, housing, or produce.

(9) "Institution of higher education" means a college, university, or vocational or technical school at the post-high school level.

(10) "Licensed group-living situation" means a facility that is licensed by the department and in which housing is provided in a home-like setting on a long term or permanent basis to individuals or households, including community homes for persons with developmental disabilities licensed under 53-20-305 , MCA. It does not include community homes for persons with severe disabilities licensed under 52-4-203 , MCA or youth care facilities licensed under 52-2-622 , MCA, shelters for homeless or abused individuals, halfway houses, nursing homes or convalescent centers, or other residential treatment facilities which provide shelter in an institutional setting.

(11) "LC" means local contractor.

(12) "Member receiving supplemental security income (SSI), TANF-funded cash assistance, or county or tribal general assistance (GA)" means any member of a household whose needs are included in the SSI, TANF-funded cash assistance, indigent assistance or tribal GA grant, or any person whose income and resources are considered in determining eligibility for those programs.

(13) "Mobile home" means a single wide trailer or mobile home only.

(14) "Multi-family unit" means a building which contains two or more shelter or rental units for living purposes. For purposes of the program, a duplex and a home with a basement apartment are considered multi-family units.

(15) "Nonrecurring lump sum payment" means a single, one time sum of money paid at one time rather than in two or more separate payments.

(16) "Paid eligible energy costs" means out-of-pocket expenditures paid by an eligible household in the form of rent payments or direct payments to a fuel vendor or person responsible for the fuel account for energy costs incurred during the heating season, for the dwelling in which the household resides at the time of application.

(17) "Self-employment deductions" means all costs, excluding depreciation costs, necessary for the creation of any income from self-employment.

(18) "Shelters" mean a dwelling unit or units whose principal purpose is to house on a temporary basis individuals who may or may not be related to one another, including transients, students, or other individuals seeking short-term or nonpermanent living situations.

(19) "Single elderly household" means a household consisting of one person only, who is 60 years of age or older.

(20) "Single family unit" means a building which contains a single shelter or rental unit for living purposes. For purposes of the program, a double wide trailer or mobile home is considered a single family unit.

(21) "State fiscal year" means the period from July 1 of one calendar year through June 30 of the next calendar year. For example, state fiscal year 2004 means the period from July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004.

(22) "U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines" means the poverty guidelines computed annually and published each year in the Federal Register.

(23) "Valid loan" means a monetary payment received from a source outside the household, including but not limited to a private individual or a commercial institution, which must be repaid at a future date. The agreement to repay may be either oral or written.

(24) "Vendor payment" means a monetary payment made on behalf of the household by a person or entity which is not a member of the household to a third party outside the household such as a creditor of the household or a person or entity providing services or goods to the household.