What is the DOE diesel price?
The EIA weekly on-highway diesel index that fuel-surcharge schedules run on, explained
- The DOE diesel price is $5.134 per gallon for the week of — it is the U.S. EIA's weekly average retail price of on-highway diesel.
- It comes from a Monday-morning survey (Form EIA-888) of roughly 590 truck stops and service stations, volume-weighted so busy truck stops count for more.
- It is a pump price: all taxes included, dollars per gallon.
- Most U.S. truckload fuel-surcharge schedules use this exact number as their weekly trigger, which is why it matters far beyond statistics.
“DOE diesel price,” “DOE index,” “EIA weekly diesel” — freight paperwork uses all three for the same thing: the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly retail on-highway diesel price. EIA is the independent statistics agency inside the Department of Energy, hence the shorthand. The survey has run weekly since , which is why it became the neutral reference number the trucking industry settled on.
How the number is made
Every Monday as of 8:00 a.m. local time, EIA surveys a sample of about 590 retail diesel outlets across the country — a mix of truck stops and service stations — under Form EIA-888. Prices are averaged with volume weights (a high-volume truck stop influences the average more than a low-volume station) across eight sampling regions that roll up to the PADD regional breakouts published alongside the U.S. average. The result is released the next morning — Tuesdays around 10 a.m. ET — labeled with the survey Monday's date.
Why trucking contracts use it
A fuel-surcharge schedule needs a public, neutral, weekly price both sides can verify for free. This index is exactly that, so contracts peg to it: when the index crosses an agreed base (the peg price), the surcharge escalates on a schedule. EIA itself is explicit that it “does not calculate, assess, or regulate” fuel surcharges — the agency just publishes the number; the formula is yours and your counterparty's.
The current value is always on the front page, plugged into the FSC calculator, and available as JSON or CSV.
FAQ
Is the DOE diesel price the same as the EIA diesel price?
Yes. The number is produced and published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical agency inside the Department of Energy. Freight contracts picked up the "DOE" shorthand decades ago and it stuck — "DOE index", "DOE price", "EIA weekly diesel", and "national average diesel price" all refer to the same weekly series.
What day does the DOE diesel price come out?
Tuesday, around 10 a.m. Eastern, covering the prior day's Monday survey. When Monday is a federal holiday the release moves to Wednesday. Exact upcoming dates are on the release schedule page.
Does the DOE diesel price include taxes?
Yes — it is a retail pump price including all federal, state, and local taxes. The federal share is 24.3 cents per gallon of diesel excise tax plus a 0.1 cent LUST (leaking underground storage tank) fee, rates unchanged since 1997; state taxes vary and are included in each region's average.
Does the government set fuel surcharges from this price?
No. EIA states plainly that it does not calculate, assess, or regulate fuel surcharges. Carriers, brokers, and shippers write their own surcharge schedules and simply reference this index as the trigger — the formula terms live in each contract.