LEES WOOD-CO said:HMMMMMMM!! NO, not yet !
tinkabranc said:No sign of shortages in my area.
Other than the rising costs of delivery due to fuel, it is business as usual.
murry said:My father just baught a pellet stove three weeks ago and also pre ordered pellets with the stove. We live in norteast Pennsylvania and he got the pellets for $200.00 a ton.
Webmaster said:Heck, I would personally refuse to burn pellets at that price
.....maybe a bag here and there, but certainly not for actual heat.
Webmaster said:I would not suggest anyone load up with oil at $5 nor with Pellets at $300+. In the case of the pellets, it's because they aren't worth that, in the case of oil I think it will be available for under that price (well under) during the winter.
LEES WOOD-CO said:murry said:My father just baught a pellet stove three weeks ago and also pre ordered pellets with the stove. We live in norteast Pennsylvania and he got the pellets for $200.00 a ton.
Buy a stove get a deal on pellets!
are you locked in to that price for natgas?Webmaster said:I have nat gas, which is equiv to about oil at $2.50 or pellets at about $230......not counting the stove cost, service, etc.
The problem is, of course, that what really matters in most cases is the price of oil during the heating seasons....and somewhat the same with pellets. I would not suggest anyone load up with oil at $5 nor with Pellets at $300+. In the case of the pellets, it's because they aren't worth that, in the case of oil I think it will be available for under that price (well under) during the winter.
ugenetoo said:are you locked in to that price for natgas?
Webmaster said:ugenetoo said:are you locked in to that price for natgas?
Even better! I own nat gas stocks and ETF's, etc. which will pay for all my heat just in dividends, let alone that they will go up. In the 4 years I have been here, including the crisis of Katrina (big run up in pricing), the average per therm price has been $1.50 approx.
If it goes up to $2.50, as I expect, it will still be cheap - furnaces is 90+ percent efficient and house is relatively new and tight. Current cost for the coldest month in Ma winter about $250, or the same as a ton of pellets.
For that I get 3 zone heat, gas hot water (lots), cooking and our gas dryer. Given 2500+ square feet, I doubt I could do that with a ton of pellets.
There are no safe bets, but you can hedge bets......I also have a pellet stove in the shop, and some bags of pellets there...
BTW, utilities do lock in prices for nat gas (their supply), although I have not inquired as to whether my local one has done so.
Webmaster said:Here's one for you - we bought 33 cubic yards of mulch today from a local logging outfit.....expensive! I think they get $35+ per cubic yard.
The truck which brought is - my guess - may have held 8 tons. That means they received $150 a ton for green wood. It does not take too much math to see that such an operation would not make much if they used the same wood for pellets.....
Take that 8 tons - use 1 ton to generate the heat to dry the other 7.
Drying the other 7, results in about 5 or less of dry material.
Spend tens of millions on a plant.
End up with 5 tons bagged after all that.......
If you followed this far, you would understand that they received over $200 a ton for those 5 (dry) tons from me for mulch! So how much would they have to sell the finished pellets for to pay for the plant and manufacturing and the middlemen? Well, I guess about $350 in this case!
I don't doubt that there will be lots of decent deals regionally for pellets....heck, some people are still paying $200 or even less. But the market rules, and where the product can be sold as other things - from mulch to particle board - the highest price will prevail. There is no other possibility.
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