Well, I might as well add my 2 cnts worth. Pellets are expected to be $6.oo bag in aug 2008,in Ct.
This price increase is due to several factors:
Increased cost of saw dust because of lack of housing starts forcing some smaller wood/
saw mills out of business. This means that a pellet mfg co would have to go further away to
secure a supply of sawdust & the extra distance translates into more desial fuel used to get the saw dust to the pellet mill which = higher cost of sawdust.
Small saw mills going out of business = less saw dust available = higher prices for saw dust.
Some pellet mills will have to have a machine that can grind down a log into sawdust as the supply of saw dust from saw mills becomes undependable or more costly.
Pellets always go up in price whenever there is a shortage & with more people buying pellet stoves , a demand that exceeds supply is assured; thus insuring higher pellet prices.
With all of that being said, I still like my pellet stove because it is so much easier to use when i am dead tired, like at 3 am when the wood stove burns dead & i just push the on button of the pellet stove & go right back to bed without much loss of sleep.
Compair that to getting another fire loaded & adjusted for cruise burning 45 minutes to 1 hr sleep lost at 3 am ,so that with the wood stove, I am getting back to bed at 4 am & maybe can't sleep as I been awake for a hour ferting around with the wood stove vs back in bed at 3:04 with the pellet stove.
The best answer I could come up with was to buy both a wood & a pellet stove, which is just what I did.
Pellets are going to get more expensive , every year, but then, fuel oil & gasoline are going to get more expensive ,every year ,too . And wood cut,split & delevered is going to get more expensive , every year, also.
Increases in the price of gasoline,fuel oil & desial fuel are creating inflation buy driving the price of everything else up accordingly.
People are broke after paying for gasoline , fuel oil & electricity have no desposable income left to spend at retail stores & barely enough left to buy food.
There are 14 major stores that have already gone bankrupt, chapter 11,or out of business already this year, as well as many smaller stores that used to deal in non essential items.
Bottom line is ,we are in & past, a recession and begining a depression.
every one will want more for their goods and services because the dollar buys less & less gasoline & you need more dollars from somewheres ,just to keep your gas gague on 1/4
full.
Hard times are here now & they are going to get a ship load more hard before they even think about getting the least bit better.
The cheapest thing is a wood stove & scrounge free wood to burn; but,you have to be willing to cut & split & for old people, 60+, this is just not much of an option unelse the are in excellent health. For them I recommend a pellet stove.
For people 50 or younger, a wood stove if they have the time to feed the baby.
No time to feed the baby, go with a pellet stove.
For multi millionaires, I recommend a money burner, excuse me, an oil burner.
You may think now, that I am ranting & raving ,but in 2011, you will look back, if you even remember & you will say " By gosh!He nailed it dead to rights"!