Lifeline Guidelines

Guidelines for eligibility:

1. Customer's household income does not exceed 150% of the federal poverty guidelines or

2 . Any person in the customer's household receives or has a child residing in the customer's household who receives:

  • a. Medicaid
  • b. food stamps
  • c. Supplemental Security Income
  • d. federal public housing assistance
  • e. home energy assistance under a program administered by the lieutenant governor
  • f. assistance under the federal Temporary
  • g. Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program
  • h. free lunches under the national school lunch program

The creditworthiness of a customer shall not be an undue barrier to eligibility in the program.

To become a participant in the program, a customer must:

1. Complete the Lifeline application.

2. If establishing eligibility by income (guideline 1 above), provide income documentation substantiating the customer's household income.

Acceptable documents include:

  • a. prior year's state, federal or tribal tax return
  • b. current income statement from an employer
  • c. paycheck stubs for three consecutive months within the last twelve months
  • d. statement of benefits from any of the following: social security administration, veteran's administration, retirement, pension, unemployment or worker's compensation.
  • e. a divorce decree, if applicable to income
  • f. child support documents
  • g. other official documents

A customer that is enrolled in the federal Lifeline program shall automatically be deemed eligible for ILAP and may not be required to separately apply in order to receive the additional discount available under ILAP.

On an annual basis, a participant's eligibility to remain in the program shall be verified by the following process:

1. We shall mail a verification form to the participant not later than 30 days prior to the verification due date.

2. The participant shall complete and sign the verification form and return it to us with supporting documentation by the verification due date.

3. If we don't receive the verification form and supporting documentation by the due date, we shall notify the customer that they will be withdrawn from the program if the signed form and documentation aren't returned within 30 days.

4. If the customer fails to provide the information by that date, we will remove the customer from the program.

5. If the customer gets withdrawn and then provides paperwork, they are re-established with the program credits.

The Lifeline program is available for only one phone line per eligible home