Heating oil suppliers often encourage regular customers to sign on to a pre-bought fuel plan over the winter months. Doing so helps homeowners living in cold areas to prepare for the cold weather and to enjoy the following four advantages when heating their home with propane or heating oil:

You'll enjoy more convenient delivery.

When you pre-buy your heating fuel, you won't have to worry about ordering it again until your pre-bought plan is finished. You also won't need to go out to visit your fuel supplier in person or even talk with them over the phone to have the fuel you need delivered right to your property.

With a pre-bought plan, you won't have to remember to track your fuel needs throughout the winter or reorder fuel when you're running low. 

You'll avoid heating oil shortages.

Being signed up on a pre-bought fuel plan means that your home's heating fuel needs will be a priority for your heating fuel supplier. You'll have a contract drawn out that clarifies your home's fuel needs in advance.

This means that your supplier will be planning to supply you all winter and will be able to prepare for the fuel demands of your home before winter even starts. 

Even if it's an unusually cold winter, you should have adequate fuel throughout the season with a pre-bought plan. 

You can have costs adjusted for market fluctuations.

If you agree to a market budget plan with a fuel supplier, you can have the rate at which you're charged for fuel adjusted depending on the market rate on the day it's delivered. 

Some homeowners are discouraged from signing up for a pre-bought plan because they assume that they'll spend excessive amounts of money on fuel if the market price of their fuel happens to go down throughout their plan term.

However, a market budget plan allows homeowners to avoid this risk. 

You'll enjoy discounted pricing.

When you sign up for a pre-bought home fuel plan over the winter, you're agreeing to do business with a fuel supplier long term.

Often, fuel suppliers will reward you for your long-term business by offering you a discounted rate on heating oil or propane. 

Do a cost comparison with your fuel supplier to predict whether you're likely to spend more money making individual purchases on heating fuel throughout the winter or signing on to a pre-bought plan. Thanks to the discounted prices that often go along with a pre-bought plan, you'll be likely to pay less with a pre-bought plan even if it's an unusually warm winter and you need less fuel than you expected.