What a 150 gallon delivery costs

A 150 gallon delivery is what a household orders when it cannot pay for a full tank. It is the most common transaction in a cold January and it is the one nobody prices honestly, because the published averages are built from ordinary fills.

Why the minimum exists

A delivery costs the dealer a truck, a driver, a route slot and the metering. None of that halves when the load does. A 100 or 150 gallon floor is the point below which the drop stops covering its own cost, which is why the number is remarkably consistent across dealers who otherwise agree on nothing.

The penalty, and why we will not put a national number on it

No public series measures the price difference between a small delivery and a full fill. The federal survey collects a residential delivered price and does not break it out by load size. Any site quoting a national small delivery premium has taken it from a dealer or invented it, and neither is a source.

What you can do is measure it at your own dealer in one phone call, and that measurement is worth more than a national average would be, because it is the number you will actually pay.

When the tank runs dry

1. 01The burner will not restart on its own once air is in the line. Restarting usually means a service visit to prime and bleed, which is a separate charge from the fuel.
2. 02Sediment lifted off the tank bottom on the last few gallons can block the filter, which is a second charge.
3. 03Emergency delivery outside normal hours carries its own fee at most dealers.
4. 04In a cold snap you join a queue behind automatic delivery customers, who are contractually ahead of you.

Add those together and a dry tank in January frequently costs more than the difference between a small delivery and a full one. The 150 gallon order is not the expensive mistake. Leaving it until there is nothing left is.