HOW HIGH ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY FOR A TON?

Talked to my dealer this past weekend and he said that in March and April he should be able to sell to his stedy customer at around $210 to $220 a ton. This part of NY state there are allot of pellet dealers and seems to be an over stock of pellets.

I paid on an average of $250.00 a ton last year. I hope we don't have to pay that again. Or I will have to look for an alternative fuel for my alternative fuel!

Back to wood I guess.

jay

My last 2 tons I paid around 275 each delivered. That is pretty much the upper limit for me.
I've had a few moderate headaches with the stove that have me seriously considering replacing the stove with a large direct vent Rinnai (1004). At 2.50-3.00 per gallon for propane i'll be spending more for my BTUs, but the extra work and mess with the stove is getting a little old. At 200 per ton, I might feel differently, but i'm pretty sure those days are gone (in the Northeast).

$240 / ton picked up is my ceiling, I averaged just under $220 for this year's supply.

I'm willing to pay more for my pellets than I do for oil, but I'm not willing to bend over and take it up the backside.

If the pellet industry wants to eat itself up, another 12 months or so at $300 with oil at $2.50 will just about do it.

Downeaster said:

I will burn pellets regardless of price. Nothing I hate anymore than paying for a product, and then the suppliers of that product using the profits to kill Americans. I hope someday OPEC is drowning in the stuff because they can't give it away. I hope everyone has noticed the drop in strikes against americans since the price has gone down. If the Feds are so hell bent on giving money away to companies that shot themselves in the foot, they should give the bailout money to the small oil producers in this country so we can wean ourselves from foreign oil. BUY AMERICAN!!

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So the fact that most of our oil comes from Canada and Mexico and Domestic sources....and that Pellets come from Canada (quite a few of them) does not figure in?

I understand buying local, but wonder if you've done all the research on who owns pellet companies, how much in foreign diesel they use to truck or rail them across the country, etc.

So, if an investment company ends up buying up pellet companies (which is very likely, since most companies end up this way) and then that investment company is owned by foreigners, that will be the end of your pellet usage?

It's quite strange that for 30 years when oil was dirt cheap, only a tiny percentage of Americans cared about "buying American". Now, all of a sudden, they have religion. I don't doubt YOUR sincerity, but I can guarantee you that $1.50 heating oil will spell the end of pellet stove sales!

Deffy said:

what is there some kind of wood pellet cartel? in order for ppl to buy pellets they have to be way cheaper than oil because they are way less convienient.
you have the hauling of the bags, storage space used, some dust, cleaning ash off the stove, the occasional auger jam overnight where you wake up to a 50 degree house, etc...

pellet companies are pricing these like its a perfect alternative to oil when they are not, they are however a bearable alternative when theres a lot of money to be saved.

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Ah, couldn't have said it better myself.......

I gotta pretty much agree, pellet makers/retailers keep pushing.....and I'll bring my wood stove back out of storage and store the pellet burner in it's place. Even though I burn alot of corn, there's a limit as to how much I'll allow my heating unit to impact my wallet when compared to other means to accomplish the same thing.

Well then there is the fact that one can get green cord wood from $160 & up/cord cut, split, and delivered. So considering that cuts out a layer of percentages I'd say oh maybe $220/ton flat for pellets delivered.

Or even better, I could dump a few trees on the lot and feed them to the flame gods. Heck my neighbor even has some that are down from several storms that they would be happy to see gone.

You know those huge Oaks out back are looking mighty good right now ;-) .

What is the going price for a new wood burner these days?

One thing that has been really aggrevating me is that our "governor" was heavily involved in pushing the pellet industry in Maine as a substitute for the failing paper industry. He was on the nightly news shaking hands with startup pellet manufacturers, praising them in the newpapers for stepping up to help struggling Mainers with out of control energy costs ($4/bag then), and I think Maine has given some huge tax incentives to the Pellet industry. Every night (it seems) he was pushing, endorsing, and urging people to buy a pellet stove. Where's Baldacci now? I wonder if he was an investor?
Mike -

Dr_Drum said:

Where's Baldacci now? I wonder if he was an investor?
Mike -

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Very well could be. This is pretty typical, for pols to be involved in what they perceived as growth industries in their states. And some of the big firms are owned by a consortium of investors because it takes a LOT of money to get a good operation going.

Maine does have a lot of renewable fuel in those forests, but my first guess would be that it could go further in terms of actual bang for the buck by fueling biomass electric plants and large biomass combo (heat and electric) for larger towns and cities. Pellets could be produced too, but there is a LOT more capacity and growth up there (in the forests) than just the amt for residential fuel.

Craig,

We also have chip burning electrical plants, the kind that have trailer lifts that upend trailers full of chips.

In fact one of the land owners really near by is currently cleaning up slash piles and shipping them out as chips to someplace in state.

Heck, I even created 10 yards of mulch from crud I thinned from the tangle on my lot and have a mess ready to feed the chipper for this year. Nobody has paid attention to the land that this lot was carved out of for at least 75 years. I doubt that I'll live long enough to see it all cleaned up but I sure as heck will make a big dent on the part of it I own.

It seems like almost everyone here in the forum heats with Oil so I can understand where anything thats cheaper to heat with than oil would be a savings. I heat with Natural Gas here, and the cost isnt very bad at all.
When I bought my pellet insert, back in June of 2008, the dealer included one ton of free pellets, this is his incentive to purchase from his dealership. Pellets at that time were $165 a ton, in June, and I purchased 3 tons hoping that a total of 4 tons would be enough for the heating season. When I look at my heating bill with Natural Gas, and then compare it to using a bag of pellets a day, anything over $200 a ton would be too much, unless I just want to enjoy the ambiance of the fire . A few weeks ago another pellet dealer called me, as I had my name added to his list since he said he would be getting pellets in January, and he asked me if I needed any pellets, however the price was $260 a ton and I would have to pick them up, so I told him thanks but I felt that was too much to pay.

In May, the dealer that installed my insert will be selling pellets and if the cost is less than $200 or right around $200 I would buy them, but if its over that I'll just let the insert sit idle and use Natural Gas until the cost gets to where pellets are cheaper than using gas .

In my opinion, a ton of sawdust is not worth $300 a ton, unless the fuel you use is costing you more than that to heat with. I love my pellet insert, and I really do enjoy sitting near it and watching it as well as feeling the warmth of the heat that I get from it. But I purchased it in the hopes of saving some money on my heating bill, and I paid $4,000 for my unit with the installation, so its not like pellet stoves are dirt cheap, they cost a lot of money and if I cant get pellets at a reasonable price, my pellet insert will just be a decoration.

For me the top price would most likely be $200 to maybe $225 a ton max..

I think my limit is between $200 and $225 as well. I might not see these prices in the northeast anytime soon, but that's fine with me.

I've come to the realization that I'm sick of being at the mercy of these 'cartels'. The spike in oil prices this past year was enough for me to convert over to NG. The NG company I signed on with (only one in my area) then restructured their rates two months ago, which significantly increased what I would have to pay for NG (it's now much more than oil). Local coal prices are up considerably this year as well, so I didn't buy any coal. Although I pre-bought my pellets for this year at $205/ton, this is the second time in the last 8 years the pellet companies have really decided to stick it to us...

I've pretty much had it with this crap. I'm going back to wood burning next year. I've started rebuilding my wood inventory over the past few months. I now have about 9 or 10 cords of oak, which should put me a couple of years ahead when I start burning next fall, and I'm sure I'll add more between now and then. So next year there wont be anyone getting rich off my hard earned $, other than myself and the tax man.

If pellet prices come down to $200, I'll buy some, but I'm certainly not going to pay $250+ for them!

Where are you located, Wet?

vgrund said:

Where are you located, Wet?

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Southern CT.

I'm not willing to pay much more than what corn is going for ($136/ ton right now).

I got quoted $143/ton for #2 (feed grade) at  moisture today. Just doin' my part to fight back against the pellet prices.....

I got quoted $143/ton for #2 (feed grade) at  moisture today. Just doin' my part to fight back against the pellet prices.....