In Western New York the cost is prohibitive or very close to it. Does anyone have any solid info on when and IF the price will return to last years amount of @$175.00-$200.00 per ton. I live between Buffalo and the Pa line on Lake Erie and IF you can find them they are obscene and do not seem to be as good as last years tks
PRICE OF PELLET$$$$$$$$$$$
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j00fek
Feeling the Heat
because of the economic conditions people are not building houses,buildings etc... so there is no supply for wood pellets then you got the demand and now the price has gone up. i hope myself it goes down in the spring while the plants get rid of their old stock and prime up for the next season.
every area is different tho, in iowa pellets are 190 in maine they are 285, went to 310 i saw last month.
every area is different tho, in iowa pellets are 190 in maine they are 285, went to 310 i saw last month.
Nicholas440
Feeling the Heat
I think the people who sell these pellets must think that they have the pellet user by the short hairs. I got a call from a guy in my area who sells them, and he told me he received a shipment of pellets in, and would I like to buy some. I asked what the price was, and when he told me $265 a ton, and I had to go pick them up myself, I told him thanks but no thanks.
I'm waiting on a call from the dealer who installed my insert, he told me he would be getting pellets sometime in January in case I was running low and wanted some , he has a list of his customers for whom he does this service. He also said he did not anticipate much of an increase if any in his price from what I paid last July, which was less than $175 a ton.
I seriously doubt that there is any pellet shortages, the mills are cranking them out by the hundreds of tons on a weekly basis. I think that these suppliers have seen the big increase in the sales of pellet stoves, and they see a very profitable market now. Pellet stove sales have soared with the price of heating oil rising up to almost $5 a gallon back in the fall, and now the oil prices have plumeted back down due to our economy in crisis. Im sure oil will be going back up eventually, but I think its going to take quiet a while. Meanwhile I'll wait and see what the price will be this year, and if the prices are outrageous, I'll simply go back to using Natural Gas, as it would be slightly cheaper than trying to heat with pellets. I just hope for all the pellet consumers sakes that the suppliers will have lowered the prices this year although I doubt you will see them back at $175 - #200 .
I'm waiting on a call from the dealer who installed my insert, he told me he would be getting pellets sometime in January in case I was running low and wanted some , he has a list of his customers for whom he does this service. He also said he did not anticipate much of an increase if any in his price from what I paid last July, which was less than $175 a ton.
I seriously doubt that there is any pellet shortages, the mills are cranking them out by the hundreds of tons on a weekly basis. I think that these suppliers have seen the big increase in the sales of pellet stoves, and they see a very profitable market now. Pellet stove sales have soared with the price of heating oil rising up to almost $5 a gallon back in the fall, and now the oil prices have plumeted back down due to our economy in crisis. Im sure oil will be going back up eventually, but I think its going to take quiet a while. Meanwhile I'll wait and see what the price will be this year, and if the prices are outrageous, I'll simply go back to using Natural Gas, as it would be slightly cheaper than trying to heat with pellets. I just hope for all the pellet consumers sakes that the suppliers will have lowered the prices this year although I doubt you will see them back at $175 - #200 .
Nicholas440 said:
Just curious...any idea what brand pellets they are going to be, or just whatever he can get his hands on??
Doocrew
Feeling the Heat
They have already started to drop a little bit and it is only January. Pelletsales.com here in NH is now down to 289 a ton from a little over 300 and they are now offering free delivery. I sure hope us early season pellet pigs are able to see prices back down to reasonable levels when we pig out in June.
kinsmanstoves
Minister of Fire
I sold about 5 tons today. I had one fella (new customer) say he was on the phone all day and I was one of two businesses within the area of Youngstown, Ohio with pellets. I asked who was the other and he said a propane dealer 15 miles from me had them for $380 a ton p/u. I sold him 25 bags (what he wanted) for $5.60 a bag. Tells you something when a Propane dealer is selling pellet stoves and pellets.
Eric
Eric
tinkabranc
Minister of Fire
Prices seem to be coming down a little around here too but not low enough
to get my attention yet.
to get my attention yet.
I agree. And this has nothing to do with the building industry. Never did. Pellet manufacturers that were pumping out 1,000 tons of pellets weren't using scrap from building sites as 'stock'.
This is just manufacturers holdinig out to get the highest possible price for their product. And there's nothing wrong with that.
There's also nothing wrong with not buying them at these prices and burning oil instead, which is much cheaper, and which is what I'm doing
At $250/ton, I'd start thinking about it, but only thinking.
Jim
This is just manufacturers holdinig out to get the highest possible price for their product. And there's nothing wrong with that.
There's also nothing wrong with not buying them at these prices and burning oil instead, which is much cheaper, and which is what I'm doing
At $250/ton, I'd start thinking about it, but only thinking.
Jim
bungalobob
Feeling the Heat
Just checked pelletsales.com about their prices and free delivery. Although not free in my area of CT., it was only $5.00 a ton for delivery, very acceptable, but the price per ton still to high, $299.90 for Cleanfire pellets. Lucky I still have plenty of pellets on hand. Learning quickly to be a pig and stock up when the prices are down. The Pellet Pig club will be bulging with new members this spring/early summer when the prices are low and sellers need room for their other products.
Lobstah said:
No, but the main feed stock for pellet mills was sawdust, which came from sawmills making lumber for the building trade. When the sawdust supply dried up, they had to start grinding whole logs themselves, which added to the cost.
So you have classic supply and demand situations. High demand for pellets drives the price up. High demand for pellet inputs drives up the cost to make pellets.
What I find interesting is that for all the complaints of the high price on pellets, they are still being bought. I guarantee you that if people stopped buying them, and pellet inventories started piling up, the price would drop.
Besides... isn't this exactly why one wants to have multiple sources for heat? To switch back and forth with fuel costs?
SAABMaven
New Member
Here in Vermont (where 'environmentalism' seems to go only as far as a bumper-sticker and a Kumbaya which boosts speculative real-estate values and draw tourists) pellet stoves are chic. The pellets have to be trucked up from Georgia, adding to the cost of the energy --- some additional hidden costs. Some of these costs are borne by the end user, but others are borne by society as a whole, which provide and maintain the roads and subsidise the fuels used for transport (an increasing amount of which are coming from biomass; not compost or waste oil, but food crops).
I have not been able to discover a concrete business plan to produce these pellets locally, even though there are a number of sawmills in Vermont.
The stove itself costs over $1000, add to that installation; I've learned that a contractor won't darken my doorstep for less than $1000. Add to that an absolute dependency on electricity that goes up and down in the Winter. So now to keep my stove running when the power is out all night, I need to add the cost of a generator!
Maybe I've missed something, but the numbers don't add up, either for me or for society. Maybe I'm not really supposed to understand, just stay with the trend!
I have not been able to discover a concrete business plan to produce these pellets locally, even though there are a number of sawmills in Vermont.
The stove itself costs over $1000, add to that installation; I've learned that a contractor won't darken my doorstep for less than $1000. Add to that an absolute dependency on electricity that goes up and down in the Winter. So now to keep my stove running when the power is out all night, I need to add the cost of a generator!
Maybe I've missed something, but the numbers don't add up, either for me or for society. Maybe I'm not really supposed to understand, just stay with the trend!
bungalobob
Feeling the Heat
Pellets were 300.-$400.00/ton if you could find them last month. Today there is an ad for @270.00/ton about 100.00 more than last year. In New York they legislated some sort of hrose&^*( law that no wood timber can be brought into the state and the wood that grows in NY can only be transported 50 miles at most. Some sort of bug or fungus or some such sh%$. They built 1 or 2 new pellet factories just over the state line in Pennsyltucky near Bradford but my understanding is there is a huge drop off in available material to make them so here we sit......... Gas is cheaper for the entire house but the stove really makes the family room comfy. 74 degrees
SAABMaven said:
I feel the same way across the border in NY. There are plenty of raw materials for pellets around but few ppl making them. This isn't making much sense currently especially considering prices.
For what it's worth, here's pellet prices from a dealer's website Central Maine.
(Not giving them a plug... locals will know it if I say "Truck Stop & Restaurant in Hermon")
Delivery is with a truck and forklift into your garage.
Pick-up Prices
We'll load your truck Monday-Saturday
Maine wood pellets (athens) ..... $249 ton
Energex wood pellets..... $289 ton
Delivery Prices
Trucked to your Bangor area home
Maine wood pellets (Athens)..... $279 ton
Energex wood pellets..... $319 ton
(Not giving them a plug... locals will know it if I say "Truck Stop & Restaurant in Hermon")
Delivery is with a truck and forklift into your garage.
Pick-up Prices
We'll load your truck Monday-Saturday
Maine wood pellets (athens) ..... $249 ton
Energex wood pellets..... $289 ton
Delivery Prices
Trucked to your Bangor area home
Maine wood pellets (Athens)..... $279 ton
Energex wood pellets..... $319 ton
slls
Minister of Fire
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
save$
Minister of Fire
$269. On state St in Augusta, located in same building as the Verizon dealer. They and the stove dealer work together. 458-3333 Ask for Lloyd, Pellets are Athens, new ones.
webbie
Seasoned Moderator
SAABMaven said:
The numbers may not add up for some....BUT,
There are a number of pellets mills very close to VT. For instance, the very large on just west of Albany built by New England Pellet, the one in Jaffrey, NH...both are pretty close in trucking distance. Then there are a couple in Quebec, although I don't know exactly how close to you.
You are correct that bringing pellets from far away adds a LOT of energy and cost. The exception would be if done by boat, although direct train routes are not too bad.
Then again, buying a SAAB made 1/2 way around the world may be worse than something from close-by Detroit. Just think of all the fuel that big boat uses getting them over here...and the same with parts, etc. in the future.
The entire formula of these things it tough to work out. Personally, I have always suggested that people should have MULTIPLE pellet plants within a relatively close distance before they consider a pellet stove. I think that is generally good advice.
Here are two Quebec plants:
Energex Pellet Fuel, Inc. Lac-Meganic, QC 819/583-5131 Bruce Lisle
Fabrication EcoFlamme Inc Temiscaming, QC (819)627-9633 Claude Brisson
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
SABBMaven,
What frosts my hind end is that I can buy stuff trucked clear across the country cheaper than what is less than 100 miles away.
What frosts my hind end is that I can buy stuff trucked clear across the country cheaper than what is less than 100 miles away.
SparkyDog said:
Not necessarily. I bought 2 tons of Energex last summer from this place (Dysart's) for $219 before they increased the price. By a large margin, they burned much, much worse than the ton of Athens I bought from them, which is saying something. The heavy clinkers they produce after 10-12 hours of burn time are a sight to behold, I have to shut down each of my stoves twice daily to scrape the pound of crap out of their burn pots, what a joy. One ton left and I can't wait until they're gone.
I realize that not all Energex burn that way but my 2 tons did.
I wouldn't pay extra for that product.
Just pd 270.00/ton and had tears in my eyes. Supplier said his shipper went under and still owed the mills mfgr for 2008's raw materials He thinks they will drop again this summer to close to last years price but of course no guarantee or early order lock in fee Bet its nice in Florida this time of the year
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