Fuel surcharge tables: checking yours against the DOE diesel index

Most fuel surcharge tables are a lookup. Take the weekly U.S. average retail on-highway diesel price published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (often still called the “DOE index”), find the band it falls in on the carrier’s table, and read off the percentage. If you can reproduce the percentage on your invoice, the surcharge is following its basis. If you can’t, ask the carrier to show the calculation.

Where does the diesel price come from?

The EIA, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, surveys a sample of retail diesel outlets every Monday and publishes national and regional averages in its Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update. Its methodology page describes the survey. Carrier tables usually name the national average, but some use a region; read which one yours names.

What does a fuel table look like?

A typical table has rows of diesel price bands and a surcharge percentage for each, for example a base price below which the surcharge is zero or a fixed amount, then a step up of a set percentage for every few cents a gallon above it. Parcel carriers publish their own tables and update them; LTL carriers publish tables in their tariffs; your agreement may replace the table with its own or apply a discount to it.

How do I check the percentage on my invoice?

1. Find the table that applies to you. Your pricing agreement says whether you use the carrier’s published table, a custom table, or a discount on the published one.
2. Find the week. Tables say which week’s price applies to which ship dates, for example the price published on a Monday applies to shipments from the following day. Use the ship date on the invoice.
3. Look up the EIA price for that week in the series the table names.
4. Read the band. Find the row the price falls in and note the percentage.
5. Compare with the billed percentage. Then check the base it was applied to: linehaul only, or linehaul and accessorials.

The savings estimator has a fuel-table lever that does the band arithmetic for a stepped table and multiplies any gap by your annual linehaul. It asks you for the table and the price rather than assuming either.

What if there is no table?

This is common on waste invoices. A “fuel and environmental recovery fee” at a flat percentage, with no index and no table, is not a fuel surcharge in the sense above; it is a fee the hauler sets. Ask for the basis in writing. If none exists, it belongs in your next negotiation as a fee to cap or remove, not as a cost that tracks fuel.

What problems does the check find?

• The wrong week’s price used, often around holidays or table updates.
• The published table applied when your agreement has a discounted or custom one.
• Fuel applied to accessorials when the agreement limits it to linehaul.
• A table that steps up when diesel rises but has no rows below today’s price, so the surcharge has a floor that was never negotiated.

Is a higher fuel surcharge always bad?

No. Carriers set base rates and fuel tables together, and a lower base with a steeper table can cost less overall. Compare total cost per shipment when you rebid, not fuel percentages alone. The audit question is narrower: does the invoice follow the table you agreed?