Winter can be a financially draining time. With the expense of Christmas as well as the increasing demands of keeping your home warm during the cold period. Joining a budget payment plan with your heating oil supplier can be a smart financial move for many, allowing you to spread the cost of your yearly oil consumption into manageable monthly payments.
When deciding if a budget payment plan could be a good solution for you, it pays to keep in mind that unlike a top-up service the responsibility of ordering still falls with you. A budget plan, put simply, offers a financial solution to help make paying for your whole yearly oil consumption more manageable, reducing the chances of a large unexpected heating oil bill.
Under the budget payment plan you will be liable for monitoring your oil level and placing orders manually when you require a top up of heating oil. When it comes to managing your winter heating oil you should prepare as you would ordinarily, by planning ahead and considering your requirements in Autumn before the start of the bad winter weather.
As a budget plan customer you must place orders manually as required (unless you are also part of a top-up scheme).
Knowing how much oil is in your storage tank will help you plan when to place your order for a delivery of winter heating oil. Monitoring your oil level is important throughout the year but especially in the winter when delivery schedules are at their busiest. It is recommended that you check your oil level once a week during Autumn and Winter.
When you are ready to place an order for your winter heating oil, contact your oil supplier and request an order as you would normally do. You will then follow the usual order process, where you will be asked how many litres you wish to order; told the price in a ‘pence per litre’ format; and given an estimate for when delivery will be.
Heating oil orders can be placed: online through Gleaner’s website and webchat facility; or by telephone or email to your delivery depot, our head office or local sales advisor.
The cost of your winter heating oil order will be factored into the monthly direct debit you pay as a budget payment plan customer. Using your order history from the previous year Gleaner’s finance team will estimate your annual oil usage and calculate how much your monthly payments should be to leave you with a nil or minimal balance come the end of the financial year.
There will not be any additional charges or payments to make at the time you place an order, as the cost will already be covered by your monthly direct debit. Once you have placed an order, it will be delivered to you and will be paid off by your monthly direct debit payments.
Budget payment plans are usually reviewed throughout the year and monthly payments may be subject to change. The price of oil and frequency of your orders may influence the price you are required to pay monthly in order to cover your yearly oil usage. Budget accounts usually go into credit during the warmer months and debit over winter, just as they would from your electricity or other utility suppliers. For this reason we advise that you do not request to withdraw any credit from your account if you are on the budget plan. Doing so could mean that your payments would need to increase during the winter or leading up to the end of the year.
Budget payment plans with Gleaner run between June-May each year (matching the financial calendar year). Our finance team will try to manage your monthly payments so that there is a nil balance at the end of May, however should there be an outstanding amount on your account we do ask for this to be cleared by 10th June annually.
Find out more information about joining Gleaner’s budget payment plan by contacting our finance department on 0800 833 534