EIA puts U.S. on-highway diesel at $5.967 for the week of Sept. 7, 2026.

When a truck hauls parts to a plant, or a warehouse pays a fuel surcharge on inbound freight, somebody is watching the price of diesel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration — EIA — is the federal office that publishes a weekly national average for on-highway diesel. Think of it as a countrywide survey number, not the sticker on the pump outside your building.

On Sept. 9, 2026, EIA’s diesel release put that U.S. average at $5.967 a gallon for the week of Sept. 7, 2026. A week earlier, for the week of Aug. 31, the same U.S. row was $5.599. That is a rise of $0.368 on EIA’s own table. Two weeks earlier, the Aug. 24 U.S. print was $5.652, so the national average had dipped before this latest jump.

What this number is — and is not — matters. It is a national average for diesel sold for highway use. It includes taxes, according to EIA. It is not the price at one station in Mansfield or Dallas. It is not automatically the same as a regional “PADD” row on the same table, which can sit higher or lower than the U.S. average in the same week. And it is not a fuel-surcharge formula. Carriers write their own surcharge rules. Some point at an EIA week. Some use another index. Some lag the print by a week or more. This article does not turn $5.967 into a percentage add-on, and it does not claim any carrier used this week’s number.

Why warehouse and plant buyers still care: when freight quotes and invoices move, people often argue about “diesel.” The clean way to have that argument is to name the week and name the series — the U.S. on-highway average versus a regional print — then match the claim to EIA’s published cells. Year-ago and two-year columns on the same table show a $2.201 increase versus a year earlier and a $2.412 increase versus two years earlier. That is longer context, not a forecast.

One more thing people get wrong: EIA’s own page does not call $5.967 a record or an all-time high. This article does not either. If a secondary headline says “record,” that is their wording, not EIA’s, and it is not treated as fact here.

Bottom line: the federal weekly national on-highway diesel average for the week of Sept. 7 is $5.967, up about 37 cents from the prior week on EIA’s table. Use that as a shared public benchmark. Do not confuse it with the pump outside the dock door.

What to do with this

If a freight invoice or quote cites an EIA diesel week, ask which release week and which series — the U.S. on-highway average or a regional PADD print. Match that answer to the Sept. 7, Aug. 31, and Aug. 24 rows on EIA’s table before you argue the number.