The application shall include the following:

(a) Documentation of energy costs. Documents or references to published or other sources for information or data on home energy expenditures or equivalent measures used to support eligibility, or where such information is unavailable or does not adequately reflect the actual cost of average home energy use in a local community, reasonable estimates of commercial energy costs.

(b) Served areas. A comparison of the historical residential energy cost or expenditure information for the local commercial energy provider(s) serving the target community or target area with the benchmark criteria published by the Agency.

(c) Engineering estimates. Estimates based on engineering standards may be used in lieu of historical residential energy costs or expenditure information under the following circumstances:

(1) Where historical community energy cost data are unavailable (unserved areas), incomplete or otherwise inadequate;

(2) Where the target area is not connected to central station electric service to a degree comparable with other residential customers in the State or region.

(3) Where historic energy costs do not reflect the costs of providing a necessary upgrade or replacement of energy infrastructure that would have the effect of raising costs above one or more of the Agency benchmarks.

(d) Independent Agency review. Information to support high energy cost eligibility is subject to independent review by the Agency. The Agency may reject applications that are not based on credible data sources or sound engineering estimates.