Fuel prices on Prince Edward Island

[maple1]

If you'd ever been to PEI you would know that first, the native wood lot growth is stunted because of the salt air and most of the good land is used for potatoes and other agricultural crops. People have their own land that some use for fire wood. Second, because of insurance regulations, it is almost impossible to insure a house that is heated by wood. Even a pellet stove has to be installed by a licensed tech before an insurance company will cover it. 5 years ago it cost 6 to 8 hundred dollars for an easy pellet stove install. Third, the Confederation Bridge determines the final cost of all goods purchased on the Island. Oil is brought in by ship to the terminals in Charlottetown. But cordwood, pellet stoves, chainsaws, wood pellets, etc. are all trucked in. It is free to get on the island by way of the Bridge or the ferry. But to get off the island the price starts at $45.00 for four axles and then each axle beyond will add $7.50 to the toll. You have scales to contend with too, if you truck goods in and inspections when leaving. That's shipping time cost.

So that's why wood stoves are not a good option to heat your house with on PEI and even pellet stoves are more expensive than places off Island. Heat pumps are the flavor of the day up there but folks have started to get sticker shock on their power bills. Electricity is a taxable item (17% I believe) and you can spend a lot to heat your house.

Lots of people burn with wood on the Island - as Velvetfoot observed in the wood piles he saw. Even if you had to truck wood in from somewhere else, every other fuel needs to be trucked or boated in too so that's kind of a wash. The bridge toll spread over a tractor trailer load of goods would be pretty insignificant, and likely would be less than the extra fuel needed to get to the ends of this province - and every province has scales to deal with. I'm not on PEI but I'm in the next province over - I burn wood and have no problem insuring my house, at not that much of a premium impact. I don't know why the insurance situation would be that much different over there?

And I don't think the salt air does anything to stunt wood growth - NS is practically an island also, except for the small isthmus connecting us to the rest of the continent. We have a very well treed shoreline - where it's not farmed or cottaged.

Wood heating is a good option everywhere - especially with the volatily of fossil fuel supply & pricing.

 

[Stevekng]

We visited PEI in the fall and as I recall, a lot of driveways had a load of splits on it. Must have been recently delivered.

I have a house on Prince Edward Island (for the past 11 years) and I can assure you that even though you see what you believe are "lots of wood piles , what I am posting is accurate. I spend a lot of time up there, three months out of the year. The price of decent firewood is prohibitive unless you have your own woodlot or a friend with one. People may have wood stoves that have been grandfathered in with the insurance regulations but when they buy a new stove the only way they can have an easy install is to do it illegally. The insurance agents have been known to drive around looking for illegal installs and have the policies cancelled. These comments are from discussions with Islanders and from taking with business owners. Nova Scotia has a much different woodlot than PEI and has no tolls to contend with. The scales have to be used every time you leave or enter the Island. It's not like a random weighing along Rte. 2 or Rte. 1.