Three suppliers can quote the same load three different ways, and the lowest number on paper isn’t always the lowest invoice. If you are still deciding between delivery into your own tank and fueling on site, start with on-site fueling vs bulk tank delivery. Before you compare quotes, put each one into the same form: what you will pay in total for the gallons that actually arrive, with every fee included.
What are the three common ways bulk fuel is quoted?
Bulk fuel is usually quoted in one of three forms, and each one leaves a different part of the price open.
- Rack-plus. A margin added to the supplier’s rack price on a stated date, usually the day the fuel is lifted. The adder is fixed; the rack underneath it moves daily.
- Fixed delivered price. One price per gallon, freight included, set when you order. You know the number in advance; the supplier carries the rack movement.
- Price plus fees. A product price, often rack-plus, with freight and other charges listed as separate lines. Every line is visible, and each one has its own conditions.
None of the three is cheaper by design. Which one costs less on a given load depends on the rack on lift day, the gallons delivered, and the fees that apply.
A worked comparison: one load, three quotes
Say you order 3,000 gallons and 2,940 gallons are delivered. All numbers below are hypothetical, chosen to show the arithmetic. Taxes are left out of all three.
| Quote A: rack-plus | Quote B: fixed delivered | Quote C: price plus fees | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terms | Rack + $0.2200, freight included | $2.6500 delivered, 3,000 gal minimum bill | Rack + $0.1000, freight $250 per load, $95 small-load fee under 3,500 gal |
| Rack on lift day: $2.4000 | $2.6200 × 2,940 = $7,702.80 | $2.6500 × 3,000 = $7,950.00 | $2.5000 × 2,940 + $250 + $95 = $7,695.00 |
| Per delivered gallon | $2.6200 | $2.7041 | $2.6173 |
| Rack on lift day: $2.5000 | $2.7200 × 2,940 = $7,996.80 | $7,950.00 | $2.6000 × 2,940 + $250 + $95 = $7,989.00 |
| Per delivered gallon | $2.7200 | $2.7041 | $2.7173 |
Per delivered gallon = total ÷ 2,940. Example: $7,950.00 ÷ 2,940 = $2.7041.
At a $2.40 rack, Quote C is the lowest by $7.80 and Quote B is the highest. Ten cents of rack movement changes the order: B becomes the lowest because its price was fixed when you ordered. Quote B also costs more per gallon than its headline because the minimum bill charges 3,000 gallons for a 2,940-gallon delivery.
So compare at more than one rack. If you expect prices to rise before the lift, the fixed price is insurance, and you can see what it costs. If you don’t, the rack-plus quotes are cheaper on this load.
Do minimum-load charges change the comparison?
Yes, and mostly on smaller orders. A minimum shows up in one of two forms: a minimum quantity billed whatever is delivered, as in Quote B, or a flat fee added below a threshold, as in Quote C. On a large order both disappear. On a small order they can be the largest single difference between quotes.
Check which quantity the minimum is measured against. A minimum tested on the ordered quantity doesn’t apply if you ordered 3,000 gallons. One tested on delivered gallons does, if the truck delivers 2,940.
Ordered gallons or delivered gallons?
Ask whether you are billed on delivered gallons or on the loaded quantity from the bill of lading, and get the answer in the quote. The delivered quantity is recorded on the delivery ticket. It rarely equals the order, for the reasons set out in why your fuel invoice changed after delivery.
There is a second basis question inside “delivered.” Fuel can be measured as gross or net gallons, and two quotes on different bases are not directly comparable. Ask which one each supplier invoices on, and compare them on the same one.
What does bulk fuel delivery cost?
Bulk fuel delivery costs the freight to your site plus whatever fees the quote lists. How freight turns into a per-gallon figure is covered in how freight converts to cents per gallon. Beyond freight, a delivered price includes whatever the quote says it does, so ask each supplier the same questions:
- Are federal and state taxes included, or added on the invoice?
- Is there a fuel surcharge on freight, and is it inside the price or a separate line?
- Which charges apply only sometimes: after-hours delivery, a second tank, pump-off, wait time?
- What is the minimum, and is it measured on ordered or delivered gallons?
- On a rack-plus quote, which terminal’s rack, and on which date?
How far a delivered price sits above rack varies by volume and distance. One public reference point: EIA reports refiner prices for gasoline sold “on a delivered basis to a retail outlet” (dealer tank wagon) alongside rack prices. For conventional regular gasoline, the U.S. averages excluding taxes were $2.421 delivered and $2.081 at the rack in 2021, a 34.0-cent difference (2.421 − 2.081). Those figures are for refiner sales to retail stations, so they won’t match your account, but they show that “delivered” is a real cost layer above the rack.
Before you sign, check the first invoice
The first delivery is the test of how you compared. Check the invoice quantity against the delivery ticket, the rack date on a rack-plus quote, and any fee that wasn’t in the quote. How to read a fuel delivery ticket walks through the fields.
How Energy Connect handles it
When Energy Connect drafts the invoice for a delivered load, each line’s quantity comes from the delivered gallons recorded for that line, falling back to the loaded and then the ordered quantity only when no delivered figure is recorded for it. See how it works for fuel buyers.