People in the Maritimes Canada are getting screwed, myself included.

[Ossy]

It's funny they keep voting in the same losers and then wonder why the state is broke and raising taxes.

What really turns my crank is the funding for Maine schools and DHHS. Case in point

State $ Spent SAT Score, Verbal/Math

Maine 7,783 506/500
North Dakota 6,321 592/599
Iowa 7,015 593/603
New Hampshire 7,048 520/516
Montana 6,525 539/539
Wisconsin 8,385 584/596
Minnesota 7,860 580/589
Nebraska 7,423 562/568

I can see them taxing wood pellets since they see it as a source of income in the near future. You would think that they would try to help this industry to succeed since there is plenty of wood in this State. But I don't think they are intelligent enough to figure out that helping businesses is in their best interest since money comes from thin air in the form of taxes. I seriously am looking to move out of this State....

Ossy

 

[rowerwet]

it is all about control, the more they take from you the less you control, until you have nothing and they have everything,

 

[Liar1_97]

I purchased my pellet stove last year and I would sell it in a heart beat if I were at the age of retirement and I had the time to install a wood stove and cut and stumpage my own wood. I am currently sitting on approximately a ton and a half of pellets left over from the previous heating season and with prices at $7.99 per bag or $6.99 per bag when purchased by the ton here in Atlantic Canada plus taxes ( 13% ) I just can't justify purchasing anymore in the very near future. This equates to a whopping $398 a ton ....My electric bill will be taking a hard hit this winter....guess they got me one way or the other but I still don't have to like it.....

 

[richkorn]

just like more drilling for oil will bring down the price due to more supply, more pellet plants will bring down the price of pellets, of course as long as Europe buys up the atlantic seaboard surplus at a higher price than we want to pay the price won't drop to fast, but it will eventualy, as long as new mills get built each year and trees don't get any more expensive. We may even see the price come down some due to the market being saturated with pellets, then some mills will go out of business and the price go back up some.
This depends on how comitted people are to burning pellets, with oil cheap again the demand won't be there this year, so expect the market to have a lot of growing pains.
As for canada taxing you on fuel, when did you notice you lived in a socialist country? don't tell me it was just now! Don't worry we won't be far behind you now that we have Obama and co. in office, then you won't have to feel so bad.
Socialisim is a continuation of fuedelisim from the middle ages, you end up with the nobility, and then everybody else. The middle class is squeezed out by taxes and regulations, so the rich can't be challenged by something new, and in a few generations they have the idea they decended from "better" ancestors than everyone else.
Here in Maine there is a 5% sales tax, but I don't think I paid it on my pellets, I usual buy everything in New Hampshire, which has no sales tax so I don't even think about sales tax. (it realy hurts when I travel and see what other states pay)

Very well stated, and true...

 

[save$]

Taxes are what they are because of whom each of us elect to office. Try to think of what you want government to be, then who will best represent those ideas. When you don't like what is going on, or have an idea you would like to see advanced, get on your keyboard and start typing. If someone else agrees with you, encourage them to get on their keyboard. Send those messages over and over, flood their mail until they get the point and respond to you.
Taxing heat is, in my way of thinking, outrageous. But so is taxing health care premiums. Sort of makes you think about what independence day represents. Happy 4th!

 

[Amaralluis]

$6.49 @ Home Depot in Saint John...
Still too high imo.

 

[pete324rocket]

pellet plant next door in Hillsborough is up and running with a brand called Trueburn, a mix of hardwood and some softwood. Goes in 15 kg bags -33 lbs and retails for (if I remember right) 5.69 a bag, and supposedly will be the same price as Shaw eastern embers, no more ,no less. I saw a tractor trailer load go by just the other day.

 

[Amaralluis]

Isnt competition grand??
$5.69 for a 33lb bag is actually more expensive than a 40lbs @ $6.29 isnt it?

 

[pete324rocket]

I went to Canadian Tire where I got last years pellets(lignetics hardwood) at 4.99 a bag and wanted to know what was left in stock. The guy tried his computer and had no record of pellets at all. Unconvinced, he went bact to the warehouse where he knew they were kept....none left. I am hoping for a deal again this year but I'm not that hopeful...unless someone knows better......

I worked out the math and it will cost an extra 200 bucks/yr. if we buy the Trueburn at that price.

 

[Amaralluis]

$4.99 is a much more reasonable price imo.
Good luck finding anything close to that price in Canada. What a rip off.
BTU last year pellets were being sold @ $5.29+tax.
There are three pellet mills within 200km's.
You still think that its cheap?

 

[56 chevtruck]

the local retailer pete mentioned has a crazy off seaon price here right now its $7.99 a bag imagine!. 2 retailers are trying to get people to by at 6.49 on payment plan. looks like $7.00 a bag one retailer is going to be charging after their so called promotion is over. needless to say pellet stove wont be going as much this winter.

 

[Liar1_97]

pete324rocket and amarallius...last year gas was going for $1.50 a litre in Canada and I bet it's half that amount right now. It probably will cost you $200 more this year to buy your pellets and again I bet you are saving over $400 per year on what would have saved on gas vs. last year. Now if you want to talk about a true rip off in Canada, talk about the price of your beer or hard booze...now THAT is a rip off...Over the 4th of July weekend, my local grocery store was selling a 30 pack of Bud Light for $16.99 per case (no deposit) and my son lives in Toronto, he said he paid over $50 with a deposit for a 2 4 up there...That ladies and gentlemen is what I call a rip off. Or the fact that I can buy hard booze made in Canada cheaper here in the States than what it can be bought for 1/2 mile from where it is made up there. (Have to pay for that free medical somehow)

I don't know if buying pellets where you live at over $6.00 a bag is a good deal or not. If they aren't, they won't sell and if they are the dealer will order more. It's not rocket science, it's simply supply and demand....that's all it is.

I would also like to be able to move my product across the country for 1/2 of what it currently costs me, but that isn't going to happen either...but we can always wish...

funny how the new USA administration is trying to adapt our CAN health care system and alot of us north of the border are thinkin about how we can scrap it....but still some fools here think that everything should be free....

 

[pete324rocket]

the local retailer pete mentioned has a crazy off seaon price here right now its $7.99 a bag imagine!. 2 retailers are trying to get people to by at 6.49 on payment plan. looks like $7.00 a bag one retailer is going to be charging after their so called promotion is over. needless to say pellet stove wont be going as much this winter.

yes Crazy isn't it! and what is the justification for the price? gonna be a lot of fence sittin' until the end I guess...and electric is pretty cheap too. Can't be too many people biting because Kent extended their no payment pellet deal till the end of august. They never promoted pellets like that before. What happened...did they all have a meeting and decide to jack up prices across the board?

 

[samandlillie]

I have been burning pellets for 14 years and last year was the first time I had trouble finding pellets in Dec. and Jan. The high prices are another matter. So I installed a mini split heat pump(18000BTU) . It costs the same as my Harman XXV two years ago.Compared to the last 2 years, my electric bill increased by 30 KWH per day in Jan and Feb. and I burned NO pellets. At $.135 per KWH I was saving about $6.00 per day instead of burning 2 bags of pellets.For those who are unaware, the newer mini split heat pumps are much more efficient, I was getting heat at - 20 degrees Celsius. Compared to electric baseboard heaters. new mini split heat pumps are 100 % to 400% efficient .I live in Falmouth , Nova Scotia and USED to burn Eastern Embers. I have about 40 bags in the garage for power outages(have generator).Yes, the new heat pumps do work in NS.
Wayne in NS

 

[pete324rocket]

Wayne, what about heat distribution for these units and excuse my ignorance, but are you getting heat from a second well or an existing well or a ground loop.......We have a second well not being used and have wondered if I might have pointed myself in the wrong direction for a heat source.

 

[samandlillie]

Pete My heat pump is an air source heat pump with a seer of 20 and is energy star(high efficency).Years ago, it was too cold here in Nova Scotia for air source heat pumps to work. Today , with better compressors and a better refrigerant, air source heat pumps are viable. My system has replaced the pellet stove for heat.

 

[Amaralluis]

I think I will have to look for something similar.

I thought pellets would be different and that gouging would not be happening but I was totally wrong.
The prices have more than doubled in less than three years and it just doesnt make sense anymore to burn pellets compared to the other heating sources.
Basically what I learned from this is that nobody in the energy business can be trusted they all gouge as much as they can.

 

[Amaralluis]

Local Kent - Comfy Kozy $6.79
Home depot - Shaws $6.49.

I hope they choke on them. :mad

 

[pete324rocket]

yeah but if they don't move, they will have to have a sale. I just remembered that I bought some rubber boots at the local wal-mart a couple weeks ago and asked buddy if they were bringing in some pellets...said he didn't know but seemed interested. Maybe thats what they need to shake them up....some cut-throating by the big big guys. Wouldn't make me sad at all. Anyone reading this from Atlantic Canada....go to your local wal-mart and ask.....with demand they will selll anything.