Diesel Fell Nationally, but the West Went Up
The national average fell 5.3 cents to $5.599 a gallon this week. But the West went up instead. The gap between the priciest and cheapest region is now $1.221 a gallon.
The national on-highway diesel average fell to $5.599 a gallon for the week of August 31, down 5.3 cents from the week before. That is the headline. It is also the least useful number on the page if you are planning a run.
Underneath it, the country moved in two directions. Padd 5, the West Coast region, went up 9 cents to $6.497. Padd 1C, the Lower Atlantic, went down 7.4 cents to $5.276. The gap between them is now $1.221 a gallon.
What the spread costs you
On a 200-gallon fill, $1.221 is $244 of difference on one stop. Two of those a week and you are looking at the price of a set of steer tires every month, decided by nothing but where you happened to be low on fuel.
California, the only state this EIA dataset publishes on its own, sits at $7.218 — up 17.8 cents on the week and up 50.2 cents in four weeks.
Nine regions, nine increases
Six of the nine EIA regions fell this week and three rose. Over four weeks, every single one of them is up. Not one region is cheaper than it was on August 3.
| Region | Price | Week | 4 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Padd 1C (Lower Atlantic) | $5.276 | -1.38% | +2.09% |
| Padd 3 (Gulf Coast) | $5.360 | -2.21% | +4.26% |
| Padd 1 (East Coast) | $5.448 | -0.91% | +2.81% |
| Padd 4 (Rocky Mountain) | $5.555 | +0.33% | +5.11% |
| Padd 2 (Midwest) | $5.571 | -1.15% | +5.87% |
| Padd 1A (New England) | $5.736 | +0.35% | +3.37% |
| Padd 1B (Central Atlantic) | $5.838 | -0.03% | +4.49% |
| Padd 5 excl. California | $5.872 | +0.22% | +4.43% |
| Padd 5 (West Coast) | $6.497 | +1.40% | +5.99% |
The Gulf Coast posted the biggest weekly drop at 2.21%, and it is still 4.26% above where it was a month ago.
California is doing most of the West's damage
Padd 5 reads $6.497. Take California out of it and the same region reads $5.872 — a difference of 62.5 cents a gallon made by one state.
That matters if you run the West but not California. The regional headline makes the whole coast look like a $6.50 problem when, outside California, it is closer to the Central Atlantic. Fuel planning off the Padd 5 number alone will have you buying earlier than you need to.
The week is down, the month is up
The weekly drop is real but small. Measured against August 3, the national average is up 25.1 cents, or 4.69%. Padd 5 is up 5.99% over the same four weeks. A single down week inside a rising month is not a trend, and budgeting off it is how a quarter gets away from you.
What to do with this
- Price your lane on the regional number, not the national one. The national average is an average of places you are not driving through.
- If your route crosses into the West, fuel before you get there when the tank allows it.
- Compare against four weeks back, not one. One week of noise hides a month of direction.
- Remember that PADD regions are regions, not states. A cheap PADD does not mean a cheap stop on your exit.
The EIA updates these numbers every Monday. The spread moves more than the average does.
The price at the pump is not yours to set. The mechanical side of fuel burn — rolling resistance, tire pressure, alignment — is. That part is work you can schedule: The Truck Savers.
Original source
U.S. Energy Information Administration — Weekly Retail On-Highway Diesel Prices