A year later, people still get turned away by EOPA
Last year this was discussed several times on the blog, where people would arrive hours early at EOPA to be able to try to get one of the few walk in appointments available since they were unable to get an appointment by phone to get assistance with their heating bills. This year it appears that’s still happening according to WTOL.
While the news report points out that if you are a senior, disabled or your utilities are already shut off you don’t have to wait in line, last year many of those trying to get assistance had their utilities turned off because they were not able to apply.
You can apply for HEAP online. Unfortunately if you need emergency HEAP assistance, EOPA is the only source for all of Lucas County listed on the Ohio Development website. That pattern of only one office for an entire county appears to be a state trend, with most of Ohio’s counties, even large ones like Cuyahoga and Franklin only having one emergency HEAP office per County.
The winter heating season where different rules apply this year is from Oct. 19, 2009 and April 15, 2010 according to a September order by the PUCO.
The problem with HEAP is that even
November 18th, 2009 at 6:00 pmif one mails the HEAP application in
August they do not approve any of
the application until late number
and does not appear on your heating
bill until late January and sometimes
not until February or March.