I have seen some outlets that promote "premium diesel", but they did it via adding something like Schaeffer diesel fuel additive as part of the mix in the tanks. The other way, would be in the upper tier of the U.S., where #1 diesel is blended with #2 for cold weather flow properties. Other than this, i have seen no appreciable difference in diesel across the upper tier of the U.S. I go thru over 21,000 gallons of diesel, average, per year. I experience no difference between so called "premium diesel" outlets and the discount places. I guess because of that, the discounts I get by patronizing certain outlets, and the volume of fuel I use, cost to go with some sort of "premium diesel" is not worth it. The other day, I got diesel at $1.04 off the cash pump price of $3.86. I got the fuel for $2.72 a gallon. Nope, I am not going to pay an extra $1.04 a gallon for some "premium diesel' when I can put in the same additives they do for roughly $.03 cents a gallon.
There are certain conditions where additives are a good thing. A lot of folks focus on lubricity, but that is really a non issue with modern engines nowadays. It is the other stuff that can be of concern. Presence of water in diesel, microbes that want to set up house in your fuel tanks and cause problems, and is the case with common rail fuel systems on many new diesels, an excessive amount of heat the fuel is subject to that can lead to a condition called Asphaltine, where the fuel is "cooked" to the point where carbon chains are being produced that can cause issues. This hot fuel is returned off the rail to the fuel tanks and these asphaltine particulates can build up in fuel lines and filters. A good additive can help reduce this problem by breaking these down.
But, to each his own.