332 for a ton of Vermont's wood pellets?

[bogieb]

Read post #22

I have no problem unloading a couple of tons myself - heck, one day I moved a ton around in my basement just for fun - okay, I was rearranging according to which brands went to which stove, but it was almost like fun.

 

[HP52NOVA]

Let me start out with this, I love burning wood pellets and the idea that I am heating my home using something that is carbon neutral instead of oil or gas, etc, is fantastic!

These prices are absolutely absurd and I feel like I am being taken for a ride. The absolute cheapest pellet I can in the area that is decent is priced at 270 a ton.

The hassle of buying, getting the pellets home, stacking them, cleaning the stoves, dealing with the inevitable dust that gets on everything from cleaning the stoves.....is becoming totally unsustainable at these prices. I feel like and correct me if I am wrong that, that pre buying in the off season generally was 250-290/300 ish depending on how picky you were with what you burned. This feels like another scam to lock us in at low prices and then keep the poor, well poor.

What used to seem like a sustainable/viable option to buying oil, is slowly losing its cool factor.

Rant over.

I would agree. This coming season is only the second season of burning for us and we also love burning pellets. We like the heat and the environmental aspects of it. However, when you add all the cost’s and labor around running a pellet stove including the pellets, time invested into operating and cleaning, buying tools and accessories, etc., the cost savings vs. propane is marginal at best.

This year, I went out and purchased 6 tons of pellets at pre-buy prices of about $260 per ton, but really at this point I plan on burning them for the reasons above, not really planning on saving much.

The issue will be when burning pellets is more costly then propane, then we may just end up using the stove here and there for entertainment…!

I read some articles about pellets production going up aggressively in the U.S – but most of it is going to EU as many schools and governments there switched to pellets, and guess who is providing all the wood…this trend is increasing and we, the local consumers, are in competition with a large export market, so I have a feeling we have not seen the end of the price hikes.