Owner-operator Ryan Claterbaugh adds live diesel and heating oil prices, fuel-tax-included Rack + X quotes and a free fuel buyer’s guide.

Fuel is one of the biggest bills a farm, a fleet or a family pays. You should see the price before you pick up the phone, not after the truck leaves.”

— Ryan Claterbaugh, Owner-Operator, Lutz Petroleum

SPINDALE, NC, UNITED STATES, November 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Lutz Petroleum, Inc., a family-owned fuel distributor serving the Carolina Foothills since 1929, is changing how its customers shop for fuel. Since Ryan Claterbaugh became owner-operator in 2025, the company has rebuilt how it prices and sells fuel around one idea: customers should see the price before they pick up the phone. Lutz now posts its home heating fuel and pump diesel prices live at lutzpetroleum.com, updated daily, and gives commercial delivery customers open Rack + X pricing with state and federal fuel taxes included, along with a free Commercial Fuel Buyer’s Guide and Budget Calculator.

The change comes in a hard year for fuel buyers. The national average residential heating oil price opened the 2026-27 heating season at $6.04 a gallon, about 70% higher than a year earlier and a record in U.S. Energy Information Administration weekly data. Heating oil prices are not regulated, according to the EIA, so customers are left to compare suppliers on their own.

In much of the fuel business, getting a price still takes work. Buyers often run into:

– No posted prices. Customers have to call, wait on a callback or fill out a quote request just to learn what fuel costs.
– Quotes without fuel tax. The per-gallon price looks lower on the phone, then state and federal fuel taxes are added at delivery.
– Broker markups. Online fuel brokers can take days to quote, then add their margin on top of the local company that actually delivers the fuel.
– Prices that move after the order. The price quoted isn’t always the price on the delivery ticket.

What Lutz is doing differently:

– Commercial bulk delivery, priced in the open. Rack + X pricing is the daily terminal (rack) price plus a fixed margin agreed up front. Quotes include fuel taxes, come the same day, and are delivered by Lutz’s own trucks and drivers.
– A free Commercial Fuel Buyer’s Guide and Budget Calculator. It explains how the rack works, tax-included versus no-tax quotes, the Rack + X terms to get in writing, and how to read a fuel invoice.
– Live heating oil prices with a calculator. Heating oil and K-1 kerosene prices are posted daily by gallon amount and payment method, and customers can order at that day’s price online or by phone.
– Live pump prices. Cash and check prices for highway and off-road diesel at Lutz’s public pumps on Oakland Road in Spindale update every day.

“When my family took over Lutz, the first thing I wanted to fix was how hard it was just to get a price,” said Ryan Claterbaugh, owner-operator of Lutz Petroleum. “Fuel is one of the biggest bills a farm, a fleet or a family pays, and this year it’s bigger than ever. You shouldn’t have to call around, wait on a callback, or find out about the fuel tax after the truck leaves. We put our numbers out in the open and explain how they’re built. If we earn your business, it’s because the price and the service hold up.”

Commercial bulk delivery is the core of Lutz’s business. Its own trucks deliver diesel, gasoline, DEF, bulk oil and lubricants to farms, fleets, job sites, sawmills and convenience stores across the region. Lutz also delivers home heating oil and kerosene and is enrolled as a vendor for North Carolina’s LIEAP and CIP heating assistance programs.

Lutz traces its roots to 1929, when the Lutz/Yelton family opened a fuel business in Shelby. Today the company is owner-operated by Ryan Claterbaugh and his family, and several team members have been with Lutz for more than 40 years.

About Lutz Petroleum
Lutz Petroleum, Inc. is a family-owned fuel distributor in Spindale, North Carolina, serving Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina since 1929, and a supporter of local first responders, churches, schools and FFA. Learn more at lutzpetroleum.com.

Ryan Claterbaugh
Lutz Petroleum
+1 828-286-3419

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability
for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this
article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.

Media gallery

About The Author
Written By: EIN Presswire