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Heat costs rising, shortage of wood pellets ongoing
By ADAM VOSLER
Era Reporter
a.vosler@bradfordera.com
The costs of keeping one’s house warm are heating up to nearly unbearable levels, and home owners are sprinting to find alternative sources due to a shortage of wood pellets.
According to Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, heating oil costs have increased 150 percent in recent years for the nearly 8 million American households that use it as their main source of warmth. Similar increases have affected kerosene and propane.
Electricity in central Pennsylvania is now about 8 cents per kilowatt hour, and propane costs more than $3 per gallon, according to the college.
An advertising representative from Bisett Building Center reported Thursday that the store has long been out of wood pellets. While it’s common for supplies to dry out, she noted that it was exceptionally early in the cold season for this to happen.
“We are assuming it’s because the timber prices are down,” the representative said. “Nobody’s building timber, so there’s no sawdust. We need sawdust for the wood pellets.”
Bisett President George Gigliotti expanded on the shortage’s background.
“The pellets were made of a byproduct of things like the furniture business,” he said. “Then the furniture business started to go slow, and the manufacturers couldn’t justify just making products.”
Allen Fuller, night manager of Worth W. Smith Co., blamed a slow economy for the wood pellet shortage.
“We get them in, and they’re gone in less than four hours,” he said.
It seems local stores are in the cold about when the popular heating source will be available again.
“We have no idea,” Fuller said. “We cannot get any answers from the manufacturers.”
Added Gigliotti: “Until more manufacturers get into making pellets, there’s going to be a shortage for a long time.”
The American Red Cross recently provided results of a survey that seems to support this troubling economic trend. The agency determined that 79 percent of Americans are concerned about the rising cost of home heating, and many will use an alternative heating source to lower their wintertime bills.
Valu Home Center, which does not sell wood pellets, has been seeing an increase in the sales of alternative heat sources, according to manager Steve Carlson.
“Right now, it’s a little early in the season ... the electric heaters are selling well early, particularly base board heaters,” he said. “We’ve sold a ton of those.”
When it gets colder, Carlson expects propane, kerosene, and vent-free natural gas heaters to sell well. He plans to have plenty in stock at all times.
“People just need a little electric heater that takes the chill out,” Carlson said. “When it gets too cold all the time, they need (something else).”
Bisett also expects a possible shift in sales.
“We do have a lot of the real efficient gas logs,” Gigliotti said. “We also sell wood stoves; we sell a lot of those, too.
“It’s a combination of a lot of different things people are doing (to get by).”
Fuller, meanwhile, did not feel that significantly more people were looking to heating alternatives.
“If they can’t find the pellets, they’ve got to turn the gas up,” he said. “(Wood pellets are) a good product because they’re using waste material. When the economy slowed down, it put a wrench in things.”
Given the nation’s current economic crisis, leaders all over are taking action.
Gov. Edward Rendell will hold a statewide summit of local government, community, religious, labor and volunteer leaders Tuesday to develop strategies to help Pennsylvanians stretch their heating resources to last all winter.
Seven meetings in various Pennsylvania cities will be chaired by United Way leaders and members of Rendell’s cabinet. The Pennsylvania governor will listen to reports from each region beginning at 11:30 a.m. via an interactive, Internet-based video conference.
The meetings will bring together key community organizations to form a Stay Warm Coordinating Council that will meet regularly to educate community members, help with home energy solutions and respond to crises.
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