Fuel Surcharge Explained

The EIA Weekly U.S. On-Highway Diesel Series Is the DOE Index

Broker fuel tables almost never say “Energy Information Administration.” They say DOE index, DOE diesel, or DOE average. Those labels point at one public series: the weekly U.S. retail on-highway diesel prices published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The page that carries the series is the Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update. DOE is the older name. The Department of Energy statistical arm that posts the series is EIA. When a rate confirmation says the fuel surcharge follows the DOE diesel index, it means this weekly on-highway diesel series, not a broker's private survey and not the price on a truck-stop receipt.

Read the current price on that EIA page. This guide does not copy a gallon price into the article and call it today's number. A price typed here would be stale the next time EIA posts the weekly update. Open the series, read the U.S. on-highway diesel figure for the week the broker's table says it uses, and keep the posted week with the rate confirmation. If the broker's schedule is regional, use the regional column on the same EIA page. It is still the same series. It is not a second index with a second name. National tables and regional tables are different columns, not different agencies.

The index is an input. It is not the surcharge. A per-mile table takes the posted diesel price, subtracts a base price the broker or shipper chose, and divides by a miles-per-gallon assumption the broker or shipper chose. EIA does not publish that base, and EIA does not publish the cents per mile. Two schedules can start from the same weekly number and print two different surcharges because the base and the miles per gallon are contractual, not federal. The formula is already in the basics section of this guide. The sample table further down is an illustration of one schedule shape. It is not a reprint of the EIA series, and it is not a statement of the price posted this week. Do not treat a row in that sample as the DOE average.

Before you book, ask which week of the series the confirmation is using and whether the column is the U.S. figure or a regional price. Then look that cell up on the EIA page. If the broker cannot name the week, the DOE label on the confirmation is decoration. If the confirmation shows one all-in rate and no fuel line, you cannot see whether the number moved with the series. That choice is covered in the all-in rate vs. fuel surcharge guide. The glossary entry is the short definition of the benchmark. The fuel surcharge rates guide is where schedule shapes are compared by equipment. Neither of those pages, and not this one, replaces the weekly figure on the EIA site.

Dispatchers who check a fuel line are checking it against the series, not against a number frozen in a blog post. The check is mechanical. Name the EIA week, name the column, and see whether the cents on the confirmation are what that broker's own table produces from that cell. The series moves on EIA's calendar. The surcharge moves only if the contract says it follows the series. A table that says DOE but never changes is not following the page, no matter what the header says.

Fuel Surcharge Basics

Sample FSC Table (6.5 MPG Base)

Based on standard 6.5 MPG and $1.20/gal base diesel. Your actual FSC may vary. See complete 2026 FSC rate table →

How Dispatchers Handle FSC

As a dispatch service that books loads daily, we see fuel surcharge issues firsthand. Here's what we've learned about FSC from dispatching thousands of loads:

Need help with FSC negotiation? See our complete FSC negotiation guide.