Price of wood pellets

billy_beckham

Bit of a rant......

Prices have doubled for something that is supposed to be a locally grown, locally harvested and locally processed product. I was expecting this year's delivery to have increased in price but more like 20%.

To have doubled is ridiculous! A fill of oil would have been cheaper.

Will be getting rid of the pellet boiler next year..

unkel

I don't think this is the right forum to discuss burning wood. Maybe you should look into installing a lot of solar panels instead?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119843585#Comment_119843585

Its boards thats hasnt got with the times :P

But Oil 2 years ago was about 40-50c, last year 70-80c, and now sitting at 1.20-1.30.

Coal is way up too. Electric is way up!

billy_beckham

@unkel... Read the forum title...

billy_beckham

Yes, oil and electricity is up, but that's all fossil fuel related. Pellets are supposed to be green, renewable, locally grown, harvested etc etc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119843747#Comment_119843747

While the rest may be true, they're certainly not green.

ednwireland

they are heated, cooled and dried so a lot of energy required. hence the price goes up.

it's a very process intensive product.

billy_beckham

As I said I was expecting an increase, but not a 100% one!

A 1,000 litres of oil would have been cheaper..

monseiur

All pellet boilers in my neighbourhood have been replaced by oil or gas, there were no takers for the used pellet boilers, some were as new, most ended up in the metal scrap yard for recycling.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119843860#Comment_119843860

It's preposterous. Renewable my hole, probably less dirty to burn the turf from your own land.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119843860#Comment_119843860

I think originally they were made from sawdust/scraps from the manufacture of wooden furniture and windows. Now there is feck all windows made out of wood and most of the furniture is shipped in from South East Asia so the surplus of raw materials for making pellets is long gone. Grinding freshly cut trees to make dried pellets is very energy intensive altogether.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119848814#Comment_119848814

Which, somewhat ironically are dried using solar power!

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119851512#Comment_119851512

It's OK because all that is done in a different country so it's clean to burn here and doesn't cause any issues in the location it's produced

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/07/us/american-south-biomass-energy-invs/

zg3409

A lot of pellets are imported from Germany into Dundalk.

In Germany the panic that gas might get cut off this winter meant lots of people got pellet burners which drove up.the cost due to supply and demand.

E.g.

https://www.globalwoodmarketsinfo.com/germany-wood-pellet-prices-double-year-ago/#:~:text=Germany%27s%20current%20demand%20for%20wood,2022%20was%20%E2%82%AC507.83/t.

Oil has doubled, gas doubled, electricity doubled.

At least with a full load of pellets you are unlikely to be cut off for the winter like gas might be, unless your pellet burner needs electricity to run...

Wood/log stove sales have risen dramatically and prices have also soared.

All users need to do everything they can to reduce usage using clever timers, reducing temperatures and zoning to only need rooms needed.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119852013#Comment_119852013

Pellet burners do use a drop of electricity to run. Not sure how much though.

Once something like this catches on the prices start going through the roof

Builderwoman!

Agree @billy_beckham I too a ranting. A

3 tonne (Approx) fill of pellets is gone from €800 to €1650. And that’s the minimum order. You can’t do like oil and get €300 or €500 worth you have to have €1,650 in your bank account the day the pellets are delivered. And there’s not a lot of competition now as woodpellets aren’t that popular here any more so prices will remain high. The good Austrian boilers were massively expensive so taking it out isn’t an option just now for most of us.

Yes Gas has increased the most but wood pellets have increased the most after that.

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2023/0206/1353659-ireland-energy-supply-costs-2023-ukraine-war/

Oil oil prices are manageable because you can do a minimum order to suit your available budget. Gas can be paid on a budget account but those of us who were encouraged early to go ‘green’ and told that wood pellets/biomass was ‘green’ we don’t have this option and we are left with massive heating bills now.

Lots of Council houses and Leisure Centres put in pellet boilers in recent years too. So they are getting hit as well. And those who put in small pellet stoves as well. But at least with bagged fuel you can by it piecemeal which helps budgeting.

Of course the ‘Green Party’ don’t want to know about our plight!!

if you have any further insight into this issue please advise. Thanks.

The Polisher

Changed from solid fuel to pellets last year. I was somewhat shocked at the cost to keep us warm over the winter despite the cleanliness and convenience. My task now is to buy pellets as cheaply as possible. Any suggestions? Anyone buy from Balcas ?

smithymk11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120743153#Comment_120743153

Hi I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind answering

I am just considering taking out a a Stanley Reginald stove to replace it with a mcz 24kw pellet boiler stove our house is 2200 square foot

When you say it was expensive to heat with the pellets what amount did you go through?

What size house and what brand of stove ?

I also have a oil boiler so maybe it be best to just update zones and controls as it's a newish boiler .

irishchris

I have wood pellet stove for heating and hot water in for last 16 years. Very economical and saved fortune first six years or so but last few years it is no longer economical and has actually been cheaper to use our oil boiler.

Last two years it is crazy completely and bagged was 3.20 per bag now 7-8 euro. Similar story with bulk. Would suggest to avoid

Boardnashea

I have also been running a Baxi pellet boiler for the past 15 years. As above 3.5 tonnes would get us through the 5 cold months. The price of bagged and bulk was very similar the last time I ordered. The Baxi does need manual cleaning monthly and weekly loading.

Shocked at the price last year. Not looking forward to getting the bill this year. We have always bought bulk from Balcas or bags locally (our storage hopper was out of action - since replaced).

Colm82

Anyone had any luck getting better prices than last year? It Kills me to look at the current quotes emailed to me from balcas and then to compare them to winter 21! I seen more eastern European brands popping up online done deal etc. Anyone gone this route?

Hannaho

I was about to install a woid pellet stove. I'm glad I came across this thread. I hadn't realised wood pellets had doubled in price!

JayBee66

We'll be using our 1400 euros of PV generated credit to power electric heaters this winter. If there's a cold snap then we'll use the stove to burn the wood scraps we pick up off the roadside whilst driving around during the year. Plenty of wood fall all over the countryside.

I understand that for urban people things are a lot harder but if we are talking "green" then urban living was never going to be sustainable. Sorry.

Colm82

Prices have stabilised and even started to drop very slightly from their peak but i had hoped they would move down in line with oil and gas prices but they gsvent. A tonne pallet used to cost approx 290e delivered in 21 but now it's about 520e. Ive always got mine direct frim balcas. Holding out in the hope of getting somewhere nearer original prices!!

billy_beckham

Anyone got any recent prices for pellets?

Nuno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121119619#Comment_121119619

Just did a bit of looking around this morning. Please check prices for yourself in case of price changes or I've made a mistake. I ordered from Moloney Fuels last year. Great service and I've no complaints about the pellets..

975kg / €549 - premiumpellet.ie - incl delivery 56.30 per kg

975kg / €550 - eco-home.ie - incl delivery - 56.41 per kg

975kg / €570 - Moloney Fuels (Clare) incl delivery- 58.46c per kg

1,200kg / €710 - wood2go.ie - incl delivery - 59.16c per kg

750kg / €447 - Balcas (Enniskillen) incl delivery - 59.6c per kg

990kg / €520 + 75 Delivery - Laois Sawmils Ltd - 60.01c per kg

960kg / €589 - Balcas (Enniskillen) incl delivery - 61.35c per kg

billy_beckham

Excellent, thanks..

Boardnashea

Thanks Nuno for all the work and for sharing.

That's an improvement on what I paid last year.

Boardnashea

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121129139#Comment_121129139

Those prices are for pallets of bags, I presume.

Boardnashea

Only two of the list above provide bulk deliveries

Premium Pellets €525 min 3T

Balcas €481.24 min 3T

If anyone knows of any other suppliers let me know.

Nuno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121132993#Comment_121132993

Yes, that's right.. I order in bags and store them, so I only looked up prices for that use case.