FNS Documents & Resources

States annually update Standard Utility Allowances (SUAs) to reflect changes in utility costs. When determining a household’s eligibility, states consider a household’s total shelter costs, including the cost of utilities. Since actual utility costs are often hard to determine, states can use SUAs, which are standard amounts that represent low-income household utility costs in the state or local area. SUAs may be used in lieu of the household's actual costs when determining eligibility and benefit amount.

SNAP E&T program activity report form (FNS-583)

This is a new collection to consolidate and improve SNAP-Ed data collecting and reporting, as required in the 2018 Farm Bill.

This webinar is intended for vendors that supply USDA Foods. 

Form FNS-674 is used to request access to the USDA Food Program Reporting System (FPRS).  

This information collection addresses the state agency reporting burden associated with the following state agency options under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Establishing and reviewing standard utility allowances (SUAs) and establishing methodology for offsetting cost of producing self-employment income.

The proposed rule would revise SNAP regulations to standardize the methodology for calculating standard utility allowances. 

This memorandum clarifies the use of third party payroll sources for SNAP certification policy and quality control purposes. The first two sections of this memorandum apply to certification policy and the section titled Quality Control Considerations provides details on how to treat verification from a third party payroll source for QC reviews.

This study develops standard methodologies that might be used to construct standard utility allowances, which are used by States as part of the SNAP eligibility and benefit determination.