Glossary termNo. 2 / 10
- Category
- Dealers & contracts
- Fuel
- Heating oil
- Source
- MA DOER
A payment-smoothing arrangement — not price protection. The dealer estimates your annual heating cost and splits it into roughly 10–12 equal monthly payments, then reconciles any credit or balance at year-end.
Your oil is still billed at the market price of the day, so a budget plan spreads the impact of a price spike evenly across the year but doesn't prevent a high total bill. It's about cash-flow predictability, not saving money.