Delbert Springer of Dixmont loads a flatbed with several tons of wood pellets for home delivery Tuesday at Dysart?s warehouse on Cold Brook Road in Hermon. The wood pellets come from Maine Woods Pellet Co. LLC in Athens.
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Wood pellet manufacturers and suppliers in Maine are urging consumers to be patient and let supply catch up to demand as the winter heating season approaches.
In the last several weeks, a number of pellet fuel distributors in Greater Bangor have been running out of pellets within a day or two of shipments. Many have been simply catching up on pre-sale orders that were made earlier this summer from customers looking to buy in bulk.
This stockpiling of pellets — heating fuel made from wood waste and sawdust that is pressurized into compact pieces — has created a unique bubble in the market, pellet experts said.
“The analogy I’ve been using is that if everybody who uses oil had [an empty 275-gallon oil tank] and wanted to take their entire full supply in July, there wouldn’t be any oil left either,” said George Soffron, CEO of Corinth Wood Pellets LLC, the state’s largest pellet manufacturer. “People need to hang on.”
The increase in sales of pellet stoves in the last few years has created a growing demand for fuel to feed these stoves. While pellet manufacturers have indicated that they are equipped to meet this demand, they can’t do it all at once.
“Everyone wanted pellets in July it seems,” Soffron said. “And I’ve heard of people buying a two-year supply of pellets, which is ridiculous. There is no need to do that.”
Bruce Linkletter of Maine Wood Pellets Co. in Athens said his plant is running at only about 70 percent production and is struggling to keep up. The company is making adjustments to increase production, but things are going to be a little tight for a while, he said.
“So many people have switched over to pellets, and I think people are panicking and buying in bulk,” Linkletter said. “If people are patient, there are plenty of pellets to go around.”
For homeowners who bought early in July, the supply issue is not a factor, but those who got a late start for whatever reason are coming up empty.
Urban Dyer, warehouse manager at Dysart’s in Hermon, said customers were buying pellets in bulk all summer long.
“We were selling 60 or 70 tons a day and it didn’t take long for them to disappear,” he said Tuesday, while waiting for a new shipment of pellets to unload.
From a consumer point of view, there is incentive to buy in bulk. A homeowner who has a 275-gallon oil tank can buy a maximum of only 275 gallons at a time, but if folks have plenty of storage, they can buy and store as many pellets as they can afford. The current average price for a ton of pellets is about $300, but some distributors offer discounts for large sales, which increases the incentive.
The drawback has been a gap on the supply end.
“We’re doing what we can,” Linkletter said. “Our major suppliers are understanding, but they are getting pressured all the time by customers.”
Soffron said he has asked distributors to spread out the amount they sell so they don’t run out. He stressed that the current concern is not about supply per se, because his plant will continue producing pellets all winter.
“We don’t have issues getting supply,” he said. “We get all sorts of board ends and other wood waste. People want to sell to us. While some [manufacturers] have had problem, we haven’t.”
Soffron also said Corinth Wood Pellets is producing twice as much as it did six months ago and recently made investments that will allow the plant to increase output further. He also boasted that 70 percent of what is manufactured in Corinth stays in Maine.
“One of the great things about Maine is that we’re resourceful,” he said. “And there is a lot of wood here. Maine could really be a leader in this industry.”
On 10/1/08 at 4:31 AM,
BillORight wrote:
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A pellet stove as a heating source is quite efficient. However the manufacturing and distribution network for the specialized product that it burns is quite another story. The "bio brick" products dried up long ago and have met the same fate. This problem may indeed be short term, however with the tanking economy, the manufacturing of wood by-products may also go south, thus agrivating the supply problem. In our current economic "climate," one may want to be as diversified in their heating methods as they are in their porfolios.
On 10/1/08 at 7:45 AM,
Coolfusion wrote:
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Wonderful.. Mainers think they are better off raping their forests and polluting the atmosphere with extremely inefficient 300 year old technology while ignoring 21st Nuclear technology where they can turn a switch and have the benefits of a clean, efficient, safe, environmental friendly energy source that other modern countries utilize.
On 10/1/08 at 8:04 AM,
Knightscross wrote:
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Had a feeling this would happen. Spend thousands on a pellet stove and can't get pellets. In a few years the pellets will cost the same as a BTU of oil. Nothing gained except Maine's air will be more polluted then before pellets came along.
On 10/1/08 at 8:09 AM,
mrclam wrote:
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Maine does need nuclear power for electric but If Maine homes were to utilize nuclear generated electricity to heat their homes it would cost untold millions of dollars to retro-fit all these homes to electrical heat. Wood pellets are not very polluting; they burn at an 83% efficiency - the same as the very best oil furnace.
As for the economy "tanking" and taking the wood pellet industry with it??? Most ridiculous. The worse the economy gets the better low priced heating alternatives will do. We do need to utilize different heating and electrical generating methods but people should understand the wood pellet industry before they disparage it. I have been using them for a long time with excellent results and I've saved a lot of money, too.
Anyone who has any sense gets their supply in the spring - just the same as you would if you used wood heat. It's a shame that people can't get the pellets they need, but they have only themselves to blame; plan ahead and you won't have this problem next year.
On 10/1/08 at 9:49 AM,
SteveyDee wrote:
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My question is if you have a furnace with a nozzle that is 1gallon per hour flow rate how is adding an additive ( FFT fuel saver) to your fuel going to save you money? 1 gallon an hour is 1 gallon an hour no matter what you are putting through it. Yes maybe the BTU’s may go up a little bit. Maybe you can clarify this before people start wasting there money?
On 10/1/08 at 10:47 AM,
Gosocks wrote:
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I hope all of these bulk buyers have a 100% moisture free environment in which to store their pellets. They'll be pretty ticked off come January when they are shoveling saw dust into their stove.
On 10/1/08 at 10:54 AM,
rosemary wrote:
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I heard that people are stocking up and storing large amounts of wood pellets and the shelve life on them is not real long because moisture can get in to the pellets even if they are in their origninal plastic wrapped bags. FYI to those people....
On 10/1/08 at 11:40 AM,
Showm77 wrote:
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what else is new about Maine we cant get anything around here..if we can get it cost us so much money we have to sell our first born to get it...I am so tired of the goverment not helping Mainers out..
On 10/1/08 at 1:36 PM,
obie46 wrote:
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Why does no one mention coal? We bought a coal stove and it's wonderful. No worries about storing the coal, it's easier than wood and very econmical. It heats our home better than our thirsty oil furnace did.
On 10/1/08 at 7:07 PM,
MartyfromMillinocket wrote:
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I bought a coal stove as well. Haven't hooked her up as of yet but will before the snow flies. Also bought 16 ton of coal and built a coal storage bin in my basement that holds 10 ton. Should last me approx 5 years at my calculated rate of consumption putting my annual heating costs to be around $700.00/year.
On 10/1/08 at 7:57 PM,
SteveyDee wrote:
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I do like that $700.00 a year using coal. They use to use coal back in the day and it looks like its making a come back. I remember seeing coal pieces in the yard as a kid left over from the day.
On 10/1/08 at 9:26 PM,
momof2 wrote:
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This is why I stuck with my furnace! If everybody starts switching to pellet stoves, they are going to claim there are shortages so they can double or triple the price of pellets. This is going to happen no matter what we do to try to save money!
On 10/2/08 at 8:23 AM,
LincolnMOM wrote:
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I just think....what a job to have to keep it fired up...and you wait & see there will be multiple back injuries due to lifting all those heavy bags into the pellet stove. I like my oil furnace and what we have done to help buckle up is ...invested in all new thermal drapes for windows, installed 2 new storm doors, caulked all windows again, and I hang up a huge sleeping bag over my french doors in basement for we don't use in winter. Also put spray insulation from a can in any areas in basement we felt a draft. The thing is you may be thinking ....how can a person afford to do all that....WELL we started saving for our doors LAST SPRING....and all summer we did a little here and there, you really have to plan ahead. WE even have a heating fuel piggy bank we started saving change last Spring and it will make filling the barrell this winter much easier. You would be amazed at how much change adds up and stuffing in a $20 bill here and there.
On 10/2/08 at 1:43 PM,
Cherry wrote:
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But you gotta make sure you squirrel some away for your fun, LincolnMOM, after all, you deserve it, you're pulling yourself up by your bootstaps. I just wonder if you saved to buy your doors, why didn't you buy ones that didn't need a sleeping bag over them? you know, energy efficient?
On 10/2/08 at 7:20 PM,
LincolnMOM wrote:
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I did buy energy efficient storm doors...I put a sleeping bag over the french doors in the basement...which are efficient but we do not use in winter so an extra barrier keeps basement even warmer. WE get high mountain winds on our lot so every bit helps. We don't need much fun money....we play outside with our sweet children and enjoy the weather in all seasons...
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