FINANCE OPTIONS

Paying For Oil With A Budget Plan

WHAT IS A BUDGET PLAN?

A budget plan is a way to eliminate high fuel bills during the winter months by allowing you to spread your payments over a period of time. Since your payments are based on an estimate of your expected annual heating costs (determined by multiplying your annual heating oil usage by the projected oil prices for the upcoming season) and a specified time period, you will make a known dollar amount payment for fuel each month. As an example:

• Assume that last year, your household used 500 gallons of heating oil in the months of December, January and February. Also assume that this year the expected price of oil will be $2.91/gallon. This means your expected heating costs for this year will be $1,455.
• Using a traditional, non-budgeted payment plan, you would need to pay $485 per month to cover your fuel costs for the 3 months of December, January and February.
• However, using a budget program, your monthly payment would be smaller while the number of months you are paying will be longer. Assuming a 10 month budget plan in the above example (meaning you have 10 months to pay your expected fuel costs), you would pay $145.50 each month for 10 months.

As you can see, the budget program gives you a way to “smooth out” your payments by avoiding having to make several large payments in a short period of time and by replacing the large payments with often more manageable smaller payments made over a longer period of time.

THE EAST COAST PETROLEUM BUDGET PLAN:

• The East Coast Petroleum budget plan is a 10 month plan that allows you to split your expected annual usage amount into 10 payments. The plan starts July 15th and ends April 15th each year.(If you miss the starting date for the budget plan, you will need to either pay for the months you missed or take on a higher payment based on the shorter amount of time available.)
• In order to be eligible for the budget plan, you must have a zero balance on your account at the time your plan is initiated. The final payment will be adjusted to pay off any outstanding balance in your account.
• Payments are due on the 15th of each month. We must keep a credit card on file, which will be charged on the 15th of each month if a budget payment is due, but not received, for that month. In addition, late payments will nullify any contract pricing programs and your plan will revert to the daily posted retail price of East Coast Petroleum. All late fees and interest will be applied.

Please call us today if you have any questions on budget plans or if you would like to set up your plan for the upcoming heating season- we want to make this winter more bearable for you!

Additional Resources To Help You Pay For Your Heating Oil

For people who meet certain eligibility requirements, additional help may be available to help you get the oil you need. Several links are given below:

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Citizens Energy Heat Assistance (Joe-for-Oil)

NOTE THAT WE ARE A DELIVERY AGENT FOR THE JOE-FOR-OIL PROGRAM. If you qualify, give us a call to set up the delivery of your FREE 100 GALLONS OF OIL!