Fuel Cost per Input Energy Calculator

How the fuel cost per input energy calculator works

Purchased input energy = quantity in purchase units × input kWh per matching purchase unit. Quote-only energy cost = unit price ÷ that heat content. The purchase unit may be mass, volume or a metered unit, but all three inputs must use the same one.

Fuel charge = quantity × unit price, rounded half-up to cents. One separately rounded delivery charge applies only to positive quantity. Delivered cost per input kWh divides the rounded total purchase cost by unrounded input energy. It is unavailable at zero purchased energy, while the quote-only unit comparison remains defined.

Input heat content is not useful heat or generated electricity. Fuel composition, moisture, standard volume conditions and gross versus net heating value can change the basis. Equipment conversion efficiency, storage losses, taxes and unentered fees are excluded. EIA supplies energy-unit and heat-content context; no current fuel factor or price is retrieved automatically.

Worked example

100 purchase units at an entered 10 kWh/unit contain 1,000 kWh input energy. A quote of 1.20/unit is 0.12 per input kWh. Fuel costs 120; adding 50 delivery gives 170, or 0.17 per purchased input kWh. Increasing unit price to 1.50 makes total 200 and delivered cost 0.20/kWh.

Sources and assumptions

The source material explains the underlying calculation or pricing structure. Entered prices, costs, schedules and scenario choices are your assumptions; this tool does not obtain supplier quotes or predict actual results.

• EIA: energy units, heat content and conversion calculators