Diesel price protection, explained for public-contract bidders

Your bid fixes the price. Diesel keeps moving. What a spike does to a fixed-price job, and how protection can help you bid sharp.

For public-contract bidders · By Hedjee · October 11, 2026 · 1 min read

Diesel in 2026

U.S. average diesel price, a gallon

Diesel

Feb. 23, 2026

Diesel

Sept. 21, 2026

Record high

+$2.72 a gallon in 7 months

Say you priced a job’s diesel in February. Sept. 21 was the highest weekly price since EIA’s records start in 1994 (not counting inflation).

Source: EIA weekly diesel prices

Your bid is fixed. Diesel isn’t.

+37.8%

jump in diesel’s price in one month, February to mid-March 2026, in government price data. Only the 1990 Gulf War jump was bigger.

Source: AGC, April 14, 2026

You price the job before work starts. Then you buy diesel for months, for your own machines and through your haulers’ fuel surcharges. Contractors can “seldom pass along” the rise once they’ve signed, AGC says.

So most contractors add a cushion

About 9 in 10

highway contractors in a 2010 survey add a cushion to bids when the job has no clause that adjusts for price changes

Source: NCHRP 20-07/274 report (2011)

A cushion is a guess. Too big, and a sharper bid wins the job. Too small, and a spike eats your profit.

What protection is, in plain words

You pick a cap, like the diesel price in your bid. If what you pay averages above it, Hedjee pays you the difference.

Compared	Pad the bidExample: a job using 20,000 gallons	Bid with HedjeeSame job. Your cap: the price in your bid
Fuel in your bid	Today’s price plus a cushion	Today’s price plus a small fee per gallon, paid up front
You pay $1 a gallon over your bid, on average	$20,000 extra. You hope the cushion covers it.	Hedjee pays you the $20,000 difference.
Diesel stays put	The cushion may have cost you the job	The fee is all you pay. You owe nothing back.

Source: NCHRP 20-07/274 report (2011)

It sits beside what you use now

Granite, a big U.S. civil contractor, has used deals to protect its diesel price. Hedjee brings the same kind of protection to bidders of any size.

Compared	What it does	With Hedjee
Escalation clause	Adjusts your pay when fuel moves. Only on some jobs, and most kick in only after a set move.	Can cover jobs with no clause. Your contract and invoices stay the same.
Haulers’ fuel surcharges	Pass your haulers’ fuel costs on to you	Stay as they are. Nothing changes for your haulers.
Fuel card	Can take cents off each gallon	Keep it. Same suppliers, same crews.
Futures and swaps	Deals big firms use to protect their diesel price. Futures need cash put up front.	The same kind of protection, sized to one job. No deposits.

Source: Kentucky Transportation Center; AGC, April 14, 2026; Granite 2025 annual report (10-K); Sysco 2026 annual report (10-K); CFTC futures glossary

What you can do

Pick one bid, or a job you’ve won. Note its gallons and its months of work. Bring it to a free 20-minute call, and we’ll look at the fuel together.