WM is committed to providing customers with safe and reliable quality waste services at a reasonable price. WM has made investments in cleaner technologies, such as LNG or CNG trucks, reducing our overall impact on the environment, but fuel prices and environmental compliance-related costs are something we cannot fully control. Our standard Fuel/Environmental Charge is meant to help our WM operating companies cover these costs and achieve an acceptable operating margin. The Fuel/Environmental Charge is one line item on customer invoices that contains two separate components: a Fuel Surcharge and an Environmental Charge.
Fuel Surcharges
The Fuel Surcharge allows our WM operating companies to recover the cost of diesel, natural gas and other hydrocarbon based fuels and products that WM on an enterprise-wide basis (through its WM operating companies) uses in its overall business, above a baseline cost. That baseline cost is measured in diesel cost @$.95/gallon. This charge allows our WM operating companies to keep up with the changing costs of diesel, natural gas and other hydrocarbon based fuels and products, and allows them to achieve the operating margin they need to maintain the high level of service that customers expect. Our standard Fuel Surcharge calculation is tied directly to the national average price of diesel fuel as reported weekly by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy ("EIA/DOE") in its Weekly Retail On-Highway Diesel Prices Index. This index is objective, publicly available and widely recognized in the trucking and transportation industries. Tying our standard Fuel Surcharge to this index ensures customers are assessed a fuel surcharge that is currently adjusted and easy to calculate.
EIA/DOE average is published each Monday and will be used for invoices created during that week. The WM Collection Fuel Surcharge Table or WM Disposal Fuel Surcharge Table shows what the Fuel Surcharge, as a percentage of a customer’s monthly or other periodic invoice charges, before taxes, would be based upon the last reported EIA/DOE national diesel price prior to a customer’s invoice date.
The amount or percentage of the Fuel Surcharge is not specifically tied to the direct or indirect costs to service a specific customer account. By contract or at a WM operating company’s discretion, some customers pay a nonstandard fuel surcharge or are exempt from any fuel surcharge. Through fuel surcharges, WM operating companies attempt to collectively recover all WM enterprise-wide costs for diesel, natural gas and other hydrocarbon based fuels and products used by WM operating companies above the $.95/gallon diesel cost baseline, from only those customers subject to a fuel surcharge, excluding any exempt or non-paying customers.
Environmental Charge
The Environmental Charge is 20% of all invoice charges, including the Fuel Surcharge, but excluding the Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge and taxes. (Some disposal customers are charged a flat rate per load or other rate or amount in accordance with their service or contract terms. Contact your local Technical Service Center through www.wmsolutions.com for more details.)
The Environmental Charge allows our WM operating companies to cover WM's enterprise-wide costs and expenses for its WM operating companies to operate collection, transfer, landfill, and recycling operations in a safe and environmentally responsible manner, and to achieve an acceptable operating margin. The amount or percentage of the Environmental Charge is not specifically tied to the direct or indirect costs to service a specific customer account. By contract or at a WM operating company’s discretion, some customers pay a nonstandard environmental charge or are exempt from any environmental charge. Through environmental charges, WM operating companies attempt to collectively recover all applicable WM enterprise-wide environmentally related costs of its WM operating companies from only those customers subject to an environmental charge, excluding any exempt or non-paying customers.
Historical WM Fuel/Environmental Charge Values
The Fuel/Environmental Charge included on a customer's invoice is determined by first applying the Fuel Surcharge percentage from the WM Collection Fuel Surcharge Table or WM Disposal Fuel Surcharge Table to the total invoice charges (excluding the Environmental Charge, Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge and taxes). Then the environmental percentage is applied to the total invoice charges, including the Fuel Surcharge calculation. For example, a bill totaling $25.00 for services, with a $3.00 Fuel Surcharge, would see an additional $5.60 applied for the Environmental Charge (20% of $28). For ease of reference, the Historical WM Fuel/Environmental Charge Percentages table shows the Fuel and Environmental Charge percentages applied by our WM collection and disposal companies for the previous 52 weeks. This table also references the corresponding EIA/DOE value for each week. Contact your local WM office if you require more information.
