Pilkington has sent out a letter telling its customers that it is implementing a fuel surcharge per delivery effective October 17.

The letter from William A. George, director-marketing, sites the increased costs for delivering the glass and also the fuel surcharges being imposed by its suppliers "at an ever-increasing rate." It adds, "Regrettably, we are no longer able to fully absorb these continually increasing energy related costs and must seek to recover some part."

According to the letter, on a monthly basis, Pilkington will evaluate the average retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline as reported on the U.S. government's energy information administration web site (tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gaspump.html) and based on the prior month's average selling price per gallon of gas adjust the delivery surcharge for the upcoming month.

The chart below shows the scale and range of the surcharge. The delivery surcharge will not be in effect for will-call business or if the average retail price of regular gas falls below $2 per gallon.

The letter adds, "As the fuel surcharge is based on retrospective measures, this does not take into account Hurricane Katrina/Rita impacts, nor their effect on all base material prices which we are continually monitoring and assessing."

The fuel surcharge amounts are the same as those PPG announced in a letter September 19 that are to go into effect October 13.