Does your fuel surcharge cover a diesel spike?

Diesel spikes by the amount you pick and stays there for four weeks. Your gallons are your weekly miles divided by your MPG. Your surcharge follows diesel one week late and is paid on loaded miles only, never empty ones. Your pump price rises by the amount you pick.

It’s the diesel price where your surcharge schedule starts paying, printed in your contract or rate confirmation. Every cent diesel sits above it, divided by the schedule’s MPG, is your surcharge per mile. $1.25 is the most common base. It isn’t your pump price.

It pays late, usually on last week’s price, so the first week of a spike is on you. Empty miles earn nothing. And when a broker sits between you and the shipper, not all of the shipper’s surcharge always reaches you, so real coverage can be lower still.

Most start at a base diesel price. An MPG formula divides how far diesel is above that base by an agreed MPG to get a rate per mile; a step schedule adds a set amount per mile for each step diesel rises. EIA publishes diesel prices; it doesn’t set your surcharge.

The same extra fuel cost three ways: with no surcharge, with your surcharge, and with your surcharge plus Hedjee. The striped part is what’s still uncovered. Hedjee pays on every protected gallon and you keep your surcharge, so together they can come to more than the extra cost; the bars stop at the extra cost, and the circled i next to “Surcharge + Hedjee” shows the payment, the fee and where you end up. It’s fuel only: your original fuel bill and other business costs are still there.

You pay an illustrative 5¢ a gallon upfront on four weeks of your gallons. Payment is based on the average price you pay over your protection period, paid after the period ends: if your four-week average ends above the starting price, Hedjee pays you the difference on every one of those gallons. If diesel doesn’t rise, there’s no payment. Your surcharge stays yours either way.