# Budget plan

By Nick Bruzzi · Published 2026-07-08 · https://heatprice.com/glossary/budget-plan

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.

Source: MA DOER — Heating Oil Contracts Guide (budget-plan terms).

## See also

- [full-service vs COD](https://heatprice.com/guides/full-service-vs-cod-heating-oil)
- [Automatic delivery](https://heatprice.com/glossary/automatic-delivery)

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