I looked back into my archived blog posts, and I see that I blogged about this same topic one year ago yesterday. Except this year, it's the exact opposite issue.
Two years ago we went on to our heating fuel oil company's budget plan. A year ago ended our first cycle. June is the settle up month, and the specifics of the new year's plan are set up in July.
Our initial year (July 2103 - May 2014) plan was $220 per month. We ended that year with a $400 credit, but they wanted to increase our monthly payment to $250. I called, and complained, and they set our payment back to $220.
We got our new plan letter in the mail yesterday. This past year we finished with a $857 credit, and our new calculated payment is $95 per month. Doing the math, it should work out to be about even, it just seems like a big drop. It also seems to be very different than last year's calculation.
I understand that there is an El Niño developing, and this winter may be warmer than usual. Which is OK by me for a bunch of reasons. So, we could end up with another credit, even with the lower payment.
But, I'll pay attention to our monthly statements, and if we need to adjust our payments up near the end of the cycle, I'll do that. Because the last thing I want is a big settle up next June.
Fuel Oil Budget Plan
July 8th, 2015 at 02:55 pm
July 8th, 2015 at 07:21 pm 1436383305
July 9th, 2015 at 05:43 am 1436420585
If you are worried about owing a significant sum 2016 July's adjustment date you could set aside the sum you feel is appropriate based on actual temperature and product usage. I see our budget program swing wildly with a October re-set date. What bothers me is the increases in administration fees and resultant tax.