Biomass wood pellet prices - bagged and bulk

WPG · 1 September 2015 at 3:49PM

cancunia wrote: »

That site looks interesting and does also look to be mostly free from commercial links apart from some brief references to a local heating firm that the site builder used. It's an excellent starting off point all the same.

Looks like prices are on the rise though, 'Luxury Wood Co' prices have jumped from what looks to be £219 on the woodpellet guide site to £259 on the LWC site for a pallet of Baltic Biogran pellets, which are from the same place as WHE Platinum + pellets.

Update:
I called LWC after seeing their prices had risen, it seems that £219 was yesterday's price for 'Baltic Biogran' and they are now offering 'AKZ' at £219. I guess the Woodpellet guide will reflect this tomorrow. AKZ come from the same supplier as WHE 'Fire Power' so a maybe the same thing.

It looks like they've put the price up this morning as the automated check that runs first thing still picked it up at £219 (the lunchtime check has picked up the new price)

Unfortunately I don't have stats going that far back, but if I remember correctly prices did seem to start to rise around this time last year, so it's probably not a bad time to stock up.

cancunia · 1 September 2015 at 3:50PM

WPG, your site is just what was needed, many thanks for putting it together.
Customer service feedback for suppliers is always subjective, and potentially open to some forms of abuse, but can be helpful all the same. One of the criteria I used when selecting pellets today was the CO2 emissions, energy output was also a factor.

WPG · 1 September 2015 at 4:03PM

I've only placed 6 or 7 orders so far (although from a number of different suppliers) and the thing that's made the biggest difference is the delivery driver, but as I think they've pretty much all come through the same haulage company, it's really luck of the draw who the driver is and how helpful he's feeling on the day.

Cancunia, sorry, a bit late now it looks like you've already ordered, but I've had Verdo pellets in the past from White Horse and haven't had any issues with them.

cancunia · 1 September 2015 at 4:24PM

WPG wrote: »

Cancunia, sorry, a bit late now it looks like you've already ordered, but I've had Verdo pellets in the past from White Horse and haven't had any issues with them.

No probs WPG, in fact I did use White Horse, based on a few factors and used their comparison for some guidance:
http://www.whitehorseenergy.co.uk/Wood-Pellet-Comparison
The interesting thing to me is their quoting the ENPlus number which tells you the supplier name & location. It shows how open WHE appear to be.

Added that to Thoza's handy league table and your prices, together with the speedy feedback I got from WHE via emails.

The only thing that stopped me buying WHE's 'FirePower' pellets was the CO2 content as I feel slightly guilty about buying stuff that comes from the other side of the Baltic and wondered what else may be getting deposited in my chimney at the same time.

thozza · 1 September 2015 at 6:25PM

cancunia wrote: »

The only thing that stopped me buying WHE's 'FirePower' pellets was the CO2 content as I feel slightly guilty about buying stuff that comes from the other side of the Baltic and wondered what else may be getting deposited in my chimney at the same time.

You might be interested to read the analysis on Forever Fuels website about emissions for Latvian pellets, they make the argument that emissions are comparative, as they are wood waste dried and have a much lower CO2 emissions from shipping than road.

http://www.forever-fuels.com/content/has-ship-sailed-suppliers-without-storage,

also this page on a theoretical Swedish shipment to Okehampton:

http://www.forever-fuels.com/content/carbon-footprint-wood-pellets

Of course any calculation depends on how far you live from the port of entry or the point of manufacture for road hauled, but in any case pellets are a factor lower in emissions than oil or gas.

cancunia · 2 September 2015 at 7:50AM

thozza wrote: »

You might be interested to read the analysis on Forever Fuels website about emissions for Latvian pellets, they make the argument that emissions are comparative, as they are wood waste dried and have a much lower CO2 emissions from shipping than road.

Apologies to others if I go too far off topic here.

I did actually buy Latvian pellets - Platinum Plus.

My original concern around CO2 was that the FirePower (AKZ) pellets apparently have a higher CO2 emission than the Baltic Biogran pellets and also that I was buying pellets from the Baltic as opposed to those produced somewhere in the UK, thereby increasing the carbon footprint of my pellets and potentially putting more smoke into my chimney.
Given the Freedom fuels analysis on shipping, I'm now comfortable that pellets coming from the Baltic now have an acceptably low additional carbon footprint from shipping and depending on where they land in the UK may have a similar carbon footprint to those produced more locally.

thozza · 3 September 2015 at 11:54AM

I thought it might be interesting to look at the wholesale or traded costs for imported bulk woodpellets (i.e. buying tonnes at a time) as an indication of the actual costs of woodpellets before packing, delivery etc.

Argus Media publish a Weekly Biomass newsletter with bulk prices, as it is by subscription, I can only access a sample from January this year, so this information is 9 months old (although forward prices at that point were not forecast to move much).

For 3,500T of pellets shipped from the Baltic or Portugal to the UK, prices were around £97/T plus £13/T shipping, giving a landed cost of around £110/T.

Pallet delivery costs to the final customer will add another £20-30 to this, giving a lowest final delivered cost of £130/T, to this will need to be added any packaging and handling costs.

The delivered price of the cheapest bagged pellets is £210/T giving the trader a margin of some £80/T if they were located at the importing port.

Of course all these calculations are rough, and additional information would help to refine them.

WPG · 7 September 2015 at 6:41PM

There have been a few price changes recently, and have also updated the Wood Pellet Guide website to include cost per kWh, so here's the latest "top 10" (ordered by Price/kWh):-

1. AKZ from Luxury Wood Company
£219.00 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £224.62
Price / kWh : 4.49p - (5kWh/kg)
BSL certified
ENplus A1

2. Firepower from White Horse Energy
£219.00 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £224.62
Price / kWh : 4.49p - (5kWh/kg)
BSL certified
ENplus A1

3. WHE Unbranded from White Horse Energy
£215.00 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £220.51
Price / kWh : 4.59p - (4.8kWh/kg - Assumed, no value available)
BSL certified
NOT ENplus certified

4. Platinum Plus from White Horse Energy
£229.00 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £234.87
Price / kWh : 4.70p - (5kWh/kg)
BSL certified
ENplus A1

5. Sparklets from Premier Pellets
£225.00 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £230.77
Price / kWh : 4.71p - (4.9kWh/kg)
NOT BSL certified
ENplus A1

6. DHLPL from Durham Heat Logs & Pellets
£220.00 for 960kg
Price / Tonne : £229.17
Price / kWh : 4.77p - (4.8kWh/kg - Assumed, no value available)
BSL certified
NOT ENplus certified

7. Premier Fuel from Premier Pellets
£230.00 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £235.90
Price / kWh : 4.80p - (4.91kWh/kg)
NOT BSL certified
NOT ENplus certified

8. AKZ from Premier Pellets
£235.00 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £241.03
Price / kWh : 4.82p - (5kWh/kg)
BSL certified
ENplus A1

9. Greenwood from LC Energy
£239.00 for 990kg
Price / Tonne : £241.41
Price / kWh : 4.93p - (4.9kWh/kg)
BSL certified
ENplus A1

10. Swift Energy from Swift Energy
£249.90 for 975kg
Price / Tonne : £256.31
Price / kWh : 5.13p - (5kWh/kg)
BSL certified
ENplus A1

Many thanks to thozza and cancunia for the feedback and additional info.

Unfortunately I'm still too new to post links, but all of the above should be easy to find via google (or through the link to the woodpelletguide website a few posts back)

thozza · 14 September 2015 at 9:00AM

WPG wrote: »

Unfortunately I'm still too new to post links, but all of the above should be easy to find via google (or through the link to the woodpelletguide website a few posts back)

The site is

http://woodpelletguide.uk/

thozza · 20 September 2015 at 10:39AM

A newly listed manufacturer of pellets, based in Thetford, registered as an ENplus A1 producer and with BSL

Equestrobed Limited
Thetford, IP64 2SY
www.equestrobed.co.uk

ENplus A1 ID-Number: UK007
BSL0054826-0001

Offering local delivery of 1 tonne of 10kg bagged pellets for £252/T in the IP and NR postcode areas.

They state that the pellets are 'manufactured in our own plant using locally sourced virgin timber'.

Biomass wood pellet prices - bagged and bulk - Page 4

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Biomass wood pellet prices - bagged and bulk

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