WoodPellet Prices v/s Oil Prices

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WoodPellet Prices v/s Oil Prices

The current price of wood pellets in Ireland varies a great deal from dealer to dealer. If you have bulk storage, you can take advantage of much lower prices. However, if you have to depend on bagged fuel you will pay a large premium.

One of the most expensive dealers I have found is EcoPellets.com. They advertise bagged pellets delivered at €349 per tonne. Kerry Bio Fuels, on the other hand, have bagged pellets at €280 per tonne, and what they call bulk bagged, in very large sacks, at €245 per tonne.

Are Wood Pellets a Saving over Oil?

In terms of heat output, 2 tonnes of wood pellets approximately equals 1000 litres of heating oil.

Heating oil prices are currently running at between €680 and €710 per 1000 litres.

If you had to buy your pellets from EcoPellets, it would be costing you as much or even some more than oil to heat your home. €349 x 2 tonnes = €698. At Kerry Bio Fuels prices €280 x 2 tonnes €560 you would be saving €120 against the price of a 1000 litres of oil.

Most homes will use one and a half fills of oil in a season 1500 Litres the cost of that is approximately €1020. If the same house was using wood pellets from EcoPellets, the bill would come to €1047. And if the home used Kerry Bio Fuels pellets the bill would be €840 for the season.

On the basis of these figures – it would not make economic sense to switch from oil heating to wood pellet heating. You would have an outlay of about €3000 to €6000 on top of the SEI grant. On the basis of the modest savings from Kerry Bio Fuels prices at €180 per season, it would take you 16 years to recover your investment at current fuel prices.

You would have to be a really committed “Green” to make the hefty investment in the equipment; the grant is well diluted by the higher Irish prices, and then end up paying more for the fuel as a result of your good intentions and investment in the environment.


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