How is a fuel surcharge calculated?

Gallons per visit × (fuel price now − fuel price when your rate was set). Gallons per visit is the round-trip miles divided by your truck’s miles per gallon, plus any fuel your equipment burns on site. The customer’s current price already covers fuel at the old price; the surcharge covers only the difference.

Should the surcharge be a dollar amount or a percentage?

A dollar amount per visit is the fairest, because distance drives fuel use. A single percentage is simpler if your invoicing software can’t add a different line for each customer: add up the extra fuel across all customers and divide by your total revenue.

What fuel price should I use?

A published average your customers can check. This calculator uses the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s monthly average retail price for regular gasoline or on-highway diesel. Many commercial contracts reference EIA’s weekly diesel price instead; either works if you say which one you use.

When should I remove a fuel surcharge?

When fuel falls back to the price your rates were built on. Write that rule into your letter — “if fuel drops back below $X a gallon, the surcharge comes off” — and check the EIA average once a month.

Is it legal to add a fuel surcharge?

Generally yes in the U.S. when it is disclosed in advance and charged as described, but check your service agreements and state rules on how fees must be advertised (for example, California’s 2024 law requiring advertised prices to include mandatory fees). This is not legal advice.

Free Fuel Surcharge Calculator for Service Businesses

Fuel surcharge per visit—

Miles per visit: —
Gallons per visit: —
Fuel cost then → now: —
Per month: —
Fuel price change: —

Do this for every customer

The formula

A fair fuel surcharge covers one thing: the extra money you now spend on fuel to reach a customer, compared with when you set their price. Their current rate already pays for fuel at the old price, so the surcharge is only the difference:

Surcharge per visit = (round-trip miles ÷ mpg + equipment gallons) × (fuel price now − fuel price then)

That is all the calculator above does. For routes, set “stops per route”: the depot round trip is shared across the stops, plus the short hop between them. Everything else — labor, materials, insurance — belongs in your base price, not in a fuel surcharge.

A worked example

A lawn crew drives a pickup that gets 11 miles per gallon. A customer is 6 miles away, so each visit is a 12-mile round trip: 12 ÷ 11 = 1.09 gallons. The mowers and blowers burn about 0.6 gallons on site, for 1.69 gallons a visit.

The customer’s price was set in October 2025, when regular gasoline averaged $3.06 a gallon (EIA). In October 2026 it averaged $4.31. The difference is $1.25 a gallon, so the fuel surcharge is 1.69 × $1.25 = $2.11 per visit. At four visits a month, that’s about $8.45 a month for this customer — and a customer twice as far away would pay a little more, which is why per-customer surcharges feel fair.

Per-customer amount or one percentage?

If your invoicing software can add a separate line for each customer (Jobber, QuickBooks, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan can), use a dollar amount per visit based on each customer’s distance. If it can’t, use one percentage for everyone: add up the extra fuel for every customer for a year and divide by the year’s revenue. YearlyRaise does both from your customer list, measuring each address from your nearest shop or yard.

Route businesses: don’t charge a full round trip per stop

If a truck makes many stops in a day — trash pickup, pool routes, pest routes — each customer shares the drive out to the route. Divide the depot round trip by the number of stops and add the short hop between stops. Charging every stop a full round trip from the yard overstates fuel many times over.

Make it easy to accept

Name your source. “Based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration average gasoline price.”
Set a base. Say the fuel price your rates were built on, and that the surcharge drops when fuel falls back.
Review it monthly and change it in steps (for example every $0.25 a gallon) so invoices don’t wobble.
Give notice. Thirty days in writing is a good default; check your agreements.

Fuel is often only part of the story. In most service businesses labor has risen too, and a surcharge won’t fix that. The guide to raising prices covers the permanent side.

Fuel surcharge calculator