By Paul J. Lowe, Executive Vice President, Roadrunner Towing & Recovery, Inc. — October 2, 2026 · 9-minute read
On September 21, Gulf Coast diesel hit $6.18 a gallon — the highest weekly price the U.S. Energy Information Administration has recorded for this region since it started counting in 1994. The fuel surcharge Louisiana allows on a police or private-property tow that week was 16%. It was 16% in March, when diesel first crossed $5. It will be 16% next week. The chart the state uses to set it ends at $5.00, and diesel did not read the General Order.
Four days later, the Louisiana Public Service Commission opened a docket to decide whether that cap should move. That is the whole reason for this post. If you own a tow company, drive for one, dispatch for one, or simply think the people who pull wrecks off I-10 at 2 a.m. ought to be able to buy the fuel to get there, the Commission is asking what you think — and the first window to answer closes in a week.
The short version
- The cap: Louisiana fixes what a tow company can charge on a non-consensual tow, including a fuel surcharge that tops out at 16% once diesel passes $5.00. Above that, the price of fuel can double and the surcharge doesn’t move with the price of the commodity.
- The docket: LPSC Docket R-38096, opened September 25, 2026, to consider raising that cap. No number has been proposed yet.
- The stakes: By the industry’s own count, Louisiana has lost roughly 50 towing companies in two years — from about 430 to about 380. This is due to regulations, high insurance costs and cost of living in general, and an uneven playing field.
- The ask: Owners and operators, intervene by Friday, October 9. Everyone else, call or email your commissioner this week. Contacts and a copy-and-paste letter are at the bottom of this page.
What the cap is, in one chart
When a tow is non-consensual — a police officer called it, or a property owner had a car removed — Roadrunner, nor any company can set those prices. The LPSC publishes a Schedule of Prescribed Rates, every licensed company in the state bills from it, and one line on it is a fuel surcharge that is supposed to float with the price of diesel. It does float, right up until $5.00. Then it stops.
Three things worth noticing on that chart. First, when the Commission wrote the current order in December 2024, diesel was about $3.15 and had not touched $5 since October 2022; a $5 ceiling looked like a formality. Second, in the 32 years EIA has tracked Gulf Coast diesel, it has spent 34 weeks at or above $5.00 — and 20 of those 34 weeks happened this year. Third, the same week in 2025, diesel was $3.40. A hundred gallons for a heavy wrecker cost $340 last September and $618 this September, and the regulated surcharge that is supposed to cover the difference moved from 12% to 16% and then ran out of road.
The number nobody in this industry likes saying out loud
In May, the president of the Towing and Recovery Professionals of Louisiana, Jared Varnado, told a Baton Rouge radio audience that by his estimate the state had about 430 towing companies two years ago and closer to 380 today. That is roughly fifty shops gone — a Louisiana tow company closing its doors about every two weeks. His own family company, he said, pays more than $400,000 a year to insure 14 trucks with a clean record, and like most of us he collects on only about a third of non-consensual tows, because an abandoned car does not pay its bill.
I can add a smaller, more local number. In a single LPSC bulletin this July, more than twenty Louisiana towing and recovery certificate holders were cited for not filing their 2025 annual report. Most will cure it and the citations get dismissed. But I have run an office long enough to know what a missed annual report usually means: the owner is driving the truck, the bookkeeper is the owner’s wife, and the pile on the desk won. In August, one company simply asked the Commission to cancel its certificate. Those are not statistics about laziness. They are statistics about margin.
Capping the fuel surcharge doesn’t make diesel any cheaper. It just leaves towing companies to cover the difference – and small operators with only one or two trucks have the least room to absorb that cost.
– rOADRUNNER TOWING & RECOVERY, INC.
Why a hard cap chokes a small shop
I am an operations person. I am not an economist, but I know it takes to keep a towing company running. So I’ll put it the way it shows up on my desk. Every commodity that moves starts a chain reaction. When diesel goes up, the impact reaches beyond what we pay at the pump. Delivery costs rise, parts, supplies, and maintenance can become more expensive, and our employees are dealing with higher cost of living, higher cost at the pump and their bills at home. But on state-regulated towing, we cannot simply adjust our rates to cover those increases. We have to work within what the state allows.
A company with steady commercial accounts may have other income to help absorb that pressure. For a small operator that depends mostly on police rotations and private-property towing, those regulated calls are what pay the bills and keep the doors open. And when the cost of doing the work keeps climbing, there may be very little room to absorb it.
That pressure eventually reaches the community. An owner puts off replacing a truck or hiring another driver or a simple service. With fewer dependable trucks and fewer employees, meeting response times become harder. If that company can no longer stay on the rotation. Then the city or parish has fewer wreckers on the list, the wait at the crash scene gets longer, and the companies left standing are the big ones — which is the opposite of competition. A cap that was written to protect the public from gouging ends up thinning the very market that keeps prices honest. Protecting the public also means making sure the businesses we depend on can afford to keep answering those calls.
And the actual dollars deserve some perspective. On a police-requested car tow at the 1½-hour minimum, the towing charge is $228.75. Each additional percentage point of fuel surcharge adds about $2.29. On a tractor-trailer requiring one hour of towing and two hours of standard recovery, each point adds about $14.82. Those amounts may seem small on a single invoice, but they add up for the company paying the fuel bill on every call.
A fair rate has to consider both the motorist paying for the service and the company expected to provide it.
What I am asking the Commission to consider
The Commission has not proposed a number, so here is one from an operator. Keep the chart. Keep it tied to the weekly EIA price, so the surcharge comes down automatically when diesel does — as it has every time. Just let it keep climbing the way it already does below $5: two points for every dollar. And because the public deserves a ceiling in writing, put a hard one at 33% that only engages in the kind of spike none of us expect to see.
| Gulf Coast diesel (EIA weekly) | Today’s chart | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| $3.00 – $3.99 | 12% | 12% (no change) |
| $4.00 – $4.99 | 14% | 14% (no change) |
| $5.00 – $5.99 | 16% — cap | 16% |
| $6.00 – $6.99 | 16% | 18% |
| $7.00 – $7.99 | 16% | 20% |
| $8.00 – $8.99 | 16% | 22% |
| $9.00 – $9.99 | 16% | 24% |
| $10.00 – $10.99 | 16% | 26% |
| $11.00 – $11.99 | 16% | 28% |
| $12.00 – $12.99 | 16% | 30% |
| $13.00 – $13.99 | 16% | 32% |
| $15.00 and above | 16% | 33% — hard ceiling |
Measure that against the week diesel set the record. At $6.18, the proposal pays 18%, not 16%. On that car tow, that is $4.58 more. On the tractor-trailer, about $30. The week after, diesel fell back to $5.96 and the proposal pays exactly what the chart pays today. That is the point: a ladder that moves with the fuel, both directions, with a ceiling the public can read. I like the number 33; the Schedule likes even numbers; we compromised.
How to be heard (NO, there is no online form — I checked)
I went looking for the website where you file your opinion on a docket, because that is what everyone will ask. It does not exist. The LPSC’s Records Division says plainly that electronic filing is not available, and that to file into an existing docket you have to be a party of record. So here is what actually works, in the order I would do it.
If you own or run a tow company
- Intervene by Friday, October 9, 4:30 p.m. The bulletin gives 15 days from September 25 for a notice of intervention or protest to be in the Commission’s office. Day 15 is a Saturday; do not bet on a roll-over.
- What a notice of intervention is: a one- or two-page letter. Docket No. R-38096 at the top. Who you are, your LPSC certificate number, how many trucks, what parishes you serve, and your interest — you bill from the Schedule and the surcharge cap affects your cost of operating. Sign it.
- How to file it: one original and two copies, to the LPSC Records Division, 602 N. Fifth Street, 12th Floor, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 (courier), or P.O. Box 91154, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-9154 (mail — allow time). Fax is accepted at (225) 342-0877 for filings of 25 pages or less, before 4:30 p.m., with the original and a $25 fax fee following within five days. Records Division: (225) 342-3157.
- Then say what you want. Once you are a party, your comments go in the docket and the Commission has to read them. Use the proposal above, or your own.
- Do it through TRPL too. The association is the one voice at the Galvez Building that speaks for all of us at once. Call them this week. Numbers below.
If you are a driver, a dispatcher, or just a taxpayer
- Call or email your commissioner. The five commissioners are elected by district, and their offices log every call. Find yours in the table below — if you live in East Baton Rouge Parish you are in District 2 or District 3 depending on your precinct; call either and they will route you.
- Say three things: you are a constituent, you are talking about Docket R-38096, and you want the fuel surcharge to float with the price of diesel above $5.00. One minute. Done.
- Show up. Every Business and Executive Session has a public-comment period. The next ones are October 22 at the Louisiana Supreme Court building in New Orleans, November 18 in Baton Rouge, and December 16 in Shreveport.
- Share this page with the owner of the company that pulled you out of a ditch once. They may not know the docket exists.
Your commissioners
| District & Commissioner | Parishes (partial parishes marked *) | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| District 1 — Eric Skrmetta (Chairman) | Jefferson*, Livingston*, Orleans*, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles*, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington | Metairie (504) 846-6930 Mandeville (985) 624-4660 Toll-free 800-228-9368 | eric.skrmetta@la.gov |
| District 2 — Jean-Paul Coussan (Vice Chairman) | East Baton Rouge*, Ascension*, Livingston*, West Baton Rouge*, Iberville*, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, Lafayette, Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption*, St. Martin* | Baton Rouge (225) 765-5031 Lafayette (337) 262-5380 Toll-free 800-256-6004 | jpcoussan@la.gov Policy: grayson.walsh@la.gov |
| District 3 — Davante Lewis | East Baton Rouge*, Ascension*, Assumption*, Iberville*, Jefferson*, Orleans*, St. Charles*, St. James, St. John the Baptist, West Baton Rouge* | Baton Rouge & New Orleans (225) 342-6687 Toll-free 800-256-9413 | davante.lewis@la.gov Policy: edward.yeilding@la.gov |
| District 4 — Mike Francis | Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline, Grant, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, LaSalle, Rapides, St. Landry, St. Martin*, St. Mary, Vermilion, Vernon | Crowley (337) 514-2000 Toll-free 800-256-2490 | mike.francis@la.gov |
| District 5 — Foster L. Campbell | Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, DeSoto, East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Red River, Richland, Sabine, Tensas, Union, Webster, West Carroll, Winn | Shreveport (318) 676-7464 Monroe (318) 362-3318 Ferriday (318) 757-3206 Toll-free 800-256-2412 | foster.campbell@la.gov |
The association
Towing and Recovery Professionals of Louisiana (TRPL) — Denham Springs. Phone (225) 664-4484. Facebook: TRPL, Inc. If you are not a member, this docket is a good reason to become one; if you are, call and ask what the association is filing and how to add your company’s name to it. Fleet operators: the Louisiana Motor Transport Association watches the same docket, because the motor-carrier surcharge in Special Order 46-2005 is in it too.
Copy, paste, sign
For owners who want a starting point for the notice of intervention, and for anyone who would rather email than call. Change what you need to.
Re: Docket No. R-38096 — Fuel surcharge cap for non-consensual towing
Commissioners: I am [owner/operator of ______, LPSC Certificate No. ______, operating ___ trucks in ______ Parish / a resident of ______ Parish]. I am writing about the fuel surcharge in the Schedule of Prescribed Rates. The surcharge is capped at 16% once Gulf Coast diesel reaches $5.00 a gallon. Diesel has been above $5.00 for twenty weeks this year and reached $6.18 on September 21, 2026, the highest price on record for this region. Every dollar above $5.00 is absorbed by the tow company, and small companies in this state are closing at a rate the industry puts at roughly one every two weeks.
I ask the Commission to keep the surcharge tied to the weekly EIA diesel price and let it continue to rise in two-point steps for each dollar above $5.00, with a hard ceiling of 33%, so that the surcharge moves with fuel in both directions and the public has a written limit. [If intervening: I request to be made a party of record in this docket.]
Respectfully, [name, company, address, phone, date]
Where this goes from here
After the intervention window closes, Commission Staff will set a schedule for comments and, eventually, file a recommendation with a number in it. A vote comes at a Business and Executive Session after that. Until an order posts, every non-consensual invoice in Louisiana carries 16%, ours included. I will post here when Staff files, when the Commission votes, and when the order takes effect.
And I want the other side of this argument on this page too. If you think the cap should stay where it is, or you have been on the paying end of a tow bill and have something to say about it, the comments are open and my inbox is contact@roadrunnertowing.com. I would rather have the discussion in public than have the Commission decide it in a quiet room.
Sources
- LPSC Official Bulletin #1385, September 25, 2026 — Docket R-38096 and the 15-day intervention notice (PDF)
- LPSC Schedule of Prescribed Rates, Attachment A, Sec. II.D fuel surcharge table, effective April 1, 2026 (PDF)
- U.S. EIA, Weekly Retail On-Highway Diesel Prices, Gulf Coast (PADD 3) — chart built from the full series history
- Talk 107.3 FM, “Louisiana Tow Truck Companies Say Insurance Costs Are Driving Businesses Under,” May 13, 2026 — the 430-to-380 estimate, from TRPL president Jared Varnado
- LPSC Official Bulletin #1379, July 2, 2026 — annual-report and insurance citations (PDF) and Bulletin #1383, August 28, 2026 (PDF)
- LPSC Records Division — filing rules, addresses, fax procedure and Docketed Filing Instructions (PDF)
- LPSC Business and Executive Session calendar
This is my opinion as an operator, built on public records as of October 2, 2026, and it is not legal advice. Filing requirements come from the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure; confirm them with the Records Division or your attorney before you file. The bracket proposal is mine, not the Commission’s, and nothing changes on any invoice until the Commission issues an order. Roadrunner Towing & Recovery, Inc. — family owned and operated in Baton Rouge since 1969, helping others, one mile at a time.
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