BISMARCK – North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that replacement benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are available for North Dakota SNAP participants who lost food due to recent power outages caused by the June storms.

SNAP households that lost power for more than four hours must report the loss within 10 days from the date food was lost to the HHS Customer Support Center by email at applyforhelp@nd.gov, by phone at 866-614-6005 or 328-1000, 711 (TTY) or by mail to Customer Support Center, P.O. Box 5562, Bismarck, ND 58506, or at their local human service zone office during regular business hours.

Eligible households include those in the following communities:

– Montana Dakota Utilities Co. customers in Alamo and Corinth.

– Otter Tail Power Co. customers in Anamoose, Garrison, Max, Surrey and Velva.

– Burke-Divide Electric Cooperative and MDU customers in Burke and Divide counties.

SNAP households living in all other North Dakota locations may still be eligible if they experienced food loss but must verify that they were affected by a power outage of four hours or more to receive replacement benefits. Verification should be a notification of power outage from the power company, such as website updates, text notifications or other methods used by the company.

The program will replace the amount of the loss up to the monthly benefit amount. If a household reports a food loss of $50 and the household received $100 in SNAP benefits for June, $50 in replacement benefits will be issued once the loss is verified.

The maximum replacement amount cannot be more than the June SNAP benefit amount the household received.