Mercer County Housing Authority residents who have received checks when their utility allowance exceeds their rent will no longer get them.

Instead, the authority will send payments straight to utility companies.

Many authorities pay for residents' utilities and include those payments in rent. Mercer County does not do that, instead setting a utility allowance that can lower rents and sometimes award residents checks, said authority Executive Director L. DeWitt Boosel.

The allowance is determined by a study of utility usage and cost.

The standing practice has created a number of problems. When the amount sent to residents is small, such as $1 or $2, often those checks do not get cashed.

A resident might think it is not worth it, while others cannot afford it.

Some residents do not have checking accounts and banks will charge them as much as $5 to cash checks, said accountant Connie Moroco.

The authority had set up a program where a bank did not charge a fee, but many residents could not get to the bank, she said.

Another major problem is when residents did not pass on the money to their utility companies, Boosel said. Then, when those residents moved out without having paid their utility bills, the utilitieis sought payment from the authority.

"As landlords, we're responsible in some communities for utilities that aren't paid," Boosel said.

Wednesday, the authority board approved sending utility allowance payments straight to the utility companies.

That does not mean the authority will start picking up utility costs.

"We don't know how much their bill is," Ms. Moroco said. "We're just applying the check to their account."

About 100 residents a month have received utility allowance checks.