Diesel Fuel Management

It wasn't that long ago that diesel fuel was cheap, especially by today's fuel cost standards. That made diesel fuel management. However, cheap diesel is a distant memory now and as prices of diesel keep rising towards the price of gasoline, more effective diesel fuel management systems are required.When it comes to a fleet's budget for fuel, generally over 1% of this goes towards theft. The majority of this theft, 81%, occurs from within the company. Since the cost of diesel fuel is now so high, we can expect fuel thefts to increase and losses to drastically increase.

One of the problems with many diesel fuel management systems of the past was that they were not equipped with the tools to deal with theft on a swift basis. Often, fleet managers would have to wait until weeks or even a month in order to determine where losses were coming from. This also includes idling and other ways that fuel can be lost. Fuel purchase alerts, exception reporting, and other diesel fuel management tools make tracking losses much easier and quicker today.

There now are multi-use diesel fuel meters which will immediately record and report fuel dispensing. For example, if a driver fuels in a manner which is outside of the set parameters, the fuel manager will be alerted instantly. The purchase will be easy to detect because it will appear on a billing statement with the driver's name as well as the vehicle. The top diesel fuel management systems today will allow users to program parameters for each of the authorized drivers.One issue that comes up with these forms of diesel fuel management systems is that they require direct oversight from management. It becomes up to the manager to decide which transactions are justified and which are out of bounds. This can become very problematic with large fleets, especially ones that are in the hundreds of drivers. However, this is really the only route to go in terms of fuel management, even with large fleets.

By using a management-by-exception policy, problem areas can be quickly located and resolved. Quick is the keyword here in order to save on theft and other forms of losses. All the fueling information gets channeled through the company's policies so that any disregard of the policy may be located.

One of the most important keys to an effective diesel fuel management system is to make sure that all employees understand that it is in place. Make sure that the drivers are aware of policies about filling tanks with premium or mid-grade fuels and the costs that it causes the company. A good diesel fuel management system will allow the fuel manager to program whether these fuels are allowed for certain drivers or not.Another way to maximize a fuel management system is to place limits on the amount of times drivers can refuel daily. This will make managing all of the various refueling much easier so any overuse or losses can be spotted faster.