The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office is now fueling our vehicles with 93-octane fuel after using 89-octane for some time. There has been a documented reduction in overall fuel consumption and savings for the county.

Critics of the change content the higher price for premium is only driving up the department’s fuel bill. They are not taking into consideration the fact the higher octane burns better in older, high mileage vehicles that are still a part of the fleet with over 100,000 miles, others are over 200,000 miles. The better fuel has increased miles-per-gallon in these vehicles.

To understand the difference you can make a comparison of comparable purchases of 89-octane fuel and 93-octane fuel.

Thirty loads of 89-octane fuel amounted to 51,240 gallons at an average price per gallon of $2.39.6. Through the change to 93-octane fuel the same 30 loads amounted to 47,312 gallons, which had an average price of $2.65.5 per gallon.

Fuel prices increased substantially over the time period covered by the 60 loads, but the difference in the two grades remained 11 cents a gallon.

With better efficient use of each gallon, the department REDUCED consumption by 3,828 gallons.

Those are gallons that would have been used by continued use of 89-octane fuel. The actual cost saving for the county, based on the lowest price that has been paid for 89-octane fuel, is $5,613.

Documentation shows the least expensive fuel is not always the best way to save money. As long as the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office has a fleet of cars with over 100,000 and many over 200,000 miles, using each gallon wisely will help to reduce costs.

Should the Bradley County Sheriffs Office be able to reduce the age and mileage of its fleet in future years it may be feasible to switch back to 89-octane fuel. However, with only one storage tank and the current large-scale number of high mileage older vehicles we must use, it saves the county money to utilize the higher octane fuel as the records document.