Oil to stay low...So says corporate America. Do you pre buy pellets?

[Phoenix Hatchling]

according to CEOs, oil is to stay low for some time. So the dilemma arises. Do you buy pellets early and propagate the price hikes, or hold and heat alternatively?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102606851

 

[TimfromMA]

Just ordered 3 tons.

 

[ttdberg]

At this season's early gouge prices? No thanks. I'll gladly wait and grab from HD and TSC in the fall. Last year was Blazers, Somersets, Pres-to-log softies, Greenways, Hamers, Ligs, and a variety of others for $225 - $250 per ton.

 

[shtrdave]

Gas prices seem to e rising so I doubt that heating oil prices won't be doing the same thing.

 

[Harmanizer]

I 'm going mostly with oil next year.I'll pick up a ton or two but these pellet prices are just crazy.When sanity returns I'll switch.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

I 'm going mostly with oil next year.I'll pick up a ton or two but these pellet prices are just crazy.When sanity returns I'll switch.

But does the price of pellets EVER go down? I don't see how this trend would reverse itself, given the fact that they will always have an outlet with significant up charge in Europe. And, pellets are not a commodity.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

Gas prices seem to e rising so I doubt that heating oil prices won't be doing the same thing.

Gas is a different animal though. And the taxes that the government is losing with the low pricing of gasoline was manipulated to give that a rise and curtail the hemorrhaging.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

But does the price of pellets EVER go down? I don't see how this trend would reverse itself, given the fact that they will always have an outlet with significant up charge in Europe. And, pellets are not a commodity.

How do you figure they aren't a commodity?

 

[BrotherBart]

And the taxes that the government is losing with the low pricing of gasoline was manipulated to give that a rise and curtail the hemorrhaging.

The Fed gasoline tax is 18.4 cents a gallon and has been for 20 years. If the pump price is $2.50 or $100 a gallon.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

How do you figure they aren't a commodity?

The sale and purchase of commodities is usually carried out through futures contracts on exchanges that standardize the quantity and minimum quality of the commodity being traded. The pellet industry for the most part is unregulated. Granted, in the most basic of terms pellets are a commodity if all it is required is to fill a need.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

The Fed gasoline tax is 18.4 cents a gallon and has been for 20 years. If the pump price is $2.50 or $100 a gallon.

And the individual state taxes??

 

[BrotherBart]

Like a state can manipulate anything with their gas tax rate?

 

[xSpecBx]

I have a little over a ton left from last season. I most likely will not be pre-ordering any for next heating season. I'll take my chances with oilnprices staying reasonable and supplement like i did this season with the pellets i have remaining

 

[boo boo]

State or federal government isn't losing on low gas prices they get their take on each gallon sold. If anything they may be selling more gallons as consumers are more relaxed with the cost of driving

 

[CladMaster]

You can not rely on oil staying low, all it takes is for some clown in the 'east' or 'west' to cause a war.

Watch out, oil prices may rise sooner than you think, the US just sent war ships to Yemen because of the 'so called' weapons that 'might' be on ships that are from Iran.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

This...

I'm pretty sure the current administration will do anything to stay out of an additional conflict, but that doesn't mean the other guy will let us. Iran already has a Persian Gulf choke point. If it controls the Red Sea also, they can jack with the price of oil big time.

 

[bogieb]

Doesn't matter to me one bit what the oil price is, I will be heating with pellets next year. Around these parts, propane doesn't get very cheap, so I would be crazy not to use pellets (or pellets hit $700/ton)

 

[Ambient]

Doesn't matter to me one bit what the oil price is, I will be heating with pellets next year. Around these parts, propane doesn't get very cheap, so I would be crazy not to use pellets (or pellets hit $700/ton)

The price of oil or the price of gas is but a meter of many different inputs and controls. The incredible squeeze being brought against, the US fracking market, the electric car, solar power, and even the pellet industry isn't over yet. History renders a pattern of these big oil corporate plays. The introduction of prohibition running for something like 15 years, ended one year after Ford stopped making their Automobile to be compatible with ethanol. The "gas" shortage in the 70's ended the production of the EV1 as well as the patents for improved mileage carb's. Etc

We'll be using pellets whether oil is high or low, even if I have to make them myself. We have already bought our pellets for next season.

 

[St_Earl]

my pellet supplier always has spring rates basically beginning in april.
i order every year sometime around then.
my pellets went up a whole $5 per ton since last year. (from $224 to $229)
the sky is definitely not falling in this area.

gas at the pump has risen in the last week and HHO was $2.52 last i checked three or so weeks ago. i'm guessing it has gone up since as well.
even if HHO was at a price that theoretically made it equal to pellets in BTUs per dollar, my stove would still kick the crap out of my forced air oil system for comfort and efficiency.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I'll cut my pellet usage in half from 5 ton to 2.5 ton and 500 bushel of corn.

 

[Highbeam]

according to CEOs, oil is to stay low for some time.

Crude oil prices on the market perhaps, but that is not the same as HHO, diesel, or gas. There is a loose correlation but that is all.

 

[moey]

Buy an oil stove???? HHO oil is around $2.00 in Maine around me. Cheaper then pellets.

 

[St_Earl]

Buy an oil stove???? HHO oil is around $2.00 in Maine around me. Cheaper then pellets.

$2.52 up here.
no. i'm not spending money i don't have on a new oil stove or new fancy new oil furnace just so i can claim it's "as cheap as pellets".
i have a pellet stove, pellets are cheaper than oil, and i stay warmer better with pellets.

my pellet supplier always has spring rates basically beginning in april.
i order every year sometime around then.
my pellets went up a whole $5 per ton since last year. (from $224 to $229)
the sky is definitely not falling in this area.

gas at the pump has risen in the last week and HHO was $2.52 last i checked three or so weeks ago. i'm guessing it has gone up since as well.
even if HHO was at a price that theoretically made it equal to pellets in BTUs per dollar, my stove would still kick the crap out of my forced air oil system for comfort and efficiency.

 

[Bioburner]

Minnesota's Gov Dayton, is proposing a fuel tax that's not fixed but just like sales taxes.

 

[boo boo]

Minnesota's Gov Dayton, is proposing a fuel tax that's not fixed but just like sales taxes.

Is your sales tax cheaper than your fuel tax?