Learn the Truth about the Hot Fuel Myth

The Issue

For more than 80 years, U.S. fuel retailers have sold fuel based on a standard volumetric gallon – a long-standing, fair and uniform method of sale of a 231-cubic inch gallon.

Today, that standard is being challenged in a way that will hurt retail fuel operations and consumers.

Because fuel expands in warmer temperatures and contracts in cooler temperatures, there is a small variation in energy content due to temperature. Special interest groups and trail lawyers have filed litigation suggesting fuel should be sold based on temperature to accommodate this slight energy variation. Such a change would require retailers to install automatic temperature compensation (ATC) devices on fuel dispensers that would continually adjust the volume of the “gallon” that customers receive.

Independent studies confirm that ATC offers no benefit – only increased costs – to consumers. What’s more, the expenses retailers incur to install ATC equipment would be paid for by consumers in the form of higher fuel prices. The National Conference on Weights and Measures recently ruled that ATC held no benefit for consumers, ending a long debate over whether it should mandate ATC use.

NATSO fully supports the NCWM’s decision because we want money to remain in consumers' pockets.