Long before heating season, shoppers paying a premium for firewood
Long before heating season, shoppers paying a premium for firewood
By Mike Stucka
Staff writer
July 05, 2008 06:00 am
—
The North Shore is baking in the summer sun, but for many, winter isn't far from mind, according to firewood sellers, who say rising oil costs are driving demand for logs — and driving up their price, too.
"I think people are trying to plan ahead," said Jim McKechnie, owner of Wolf Hill garden centers in Ipswich and Gloucester. "I do believe people are worried about how they're going to pay for their oil."
McKechnie's customers are buying firewood and wood pellets, and they're paying more than they used to. Semi-seasoned wood now sells for $328 a cord, up from about $220 last summer.
While Yankee Fireplace & Grill City in Middleton would normally sell plenty of grills around the Fourth of July, customers are instead getting ready for winter.
Wood "pellet stoves are pretty much bonkers right now," said C.T. Watt, a Yankee Fireplace site surveyor. "A lot of manufacturers are telling people if they order now, they may not get them until February."
Even though it isn't the heating season, oil and wood prices are higher than they were in the winter, and even thieves are planning ahead. On the cusp of the worst heat wave, someone stole logs from Peabody's Quality Firewood — then returned a week later to steal more, the owner told police.
"They'll do it through the summer, too, so they'll have a couple cords for the winter," said owner Ron Coy, who starts his mornings walking around to see how much wood was stolen overnight.
Coy said suppliers can't keep up with demand, and prices are rising quickly. He sometimes goes a few days without any wood to split and get seasoned, and parts of his yard are empty.
"Guys don't want to come to me because fuel is $5 a gallon," Coy said. "And they're in southern New Hampshire. What's next? Beyond that is Maine and Vermont."
Typically, the wood is being burned in stoves and fireplaces to supplement a building's regular heating system, which typically runs on heating oil or natural gas.
Beth Hogan, executive director of the North Shore Community Action Programs, said wood and other alternatives are options only for suburban homeowners, who will also get crunched by oil prices.
"I think we're facing an emergency, and we need to start talking about it now," said Hogan, whose agency oversees heating oil assistance programs.
A NewEnglandOil.com survey shows heating oil prices were averaging $4.41 a gallon in late June. The federal Energy Information Administration said Massachusetts heating oil prices rose 70 cents a gallon just between February and April. The agency said natural gas prices were higher in April than they were during the core winter months, though the April prices were close to those in 2006 and 2007.
With oil prices going up, supplements like wood and wood pellets are in higher demand.
McKechnie said semi-seasoned firewood is already more expensive than fully seasoned firewood was in winter. He's encouraging customers to stock up, because prices could go up more and supplies could disappear. Heating customers are competing for wood against paper mills also worried about getting a good supply at a good price. Heating oil is the same substance as the diesel fuel that's gotten much more expensive.
"All of this boils down to the cost of fuel, because to get the logs, to get the firewood down to me, to split it, fuel costs are so high it's just escalating the prices tremendously," he said.
Even with the increased price, a cord of wood still costs about half as much as an equivalent amount of heating oil, he said.
Wolf Hill's Ipswich location has about 225 cords in stock now. On Thursday morning, when temperatures were around 85 degrees, it sold three cords, said bulk yard manager Shawn Roberts.
http://www.salemnews.com/punews/loca...ces_printstory
Long before heating season, shoppers paying a premium for firewood
By Mike Stucka
Staff writer
July 05, 2008 06:00 am
—
The North Shore is baking in the summer sun, but for many, winter isn't far from mind, according to firewood sellers, who say rising oil costs are driving demand for logs — and driving up their price, too.
"I think people are trying to plan ahead," said Jim McKechnie, owner of Wolf Hill garden centers in Ipswich and Gloucester. "I do believe people are worried about how they're going to pay for their oil."
McKechnie's customers are buying firewood and wood pellets, and they're paying more than they used to. Semi-seasoned wood now sells for $328 a cord, up from about $220 last summer.
While Yankee Fireplace & Grill City in Middleton would normally sell plenty of grills around the Fourth of July, customers are instead getting ready for winter.
Wood "pellet stoves are pretty much bonkers right now," said C.T. Watt, a Yankee Fireplace site surveyor. "A lot of manufacturers are telling people if they order now, they may not get them until February."
Even though it isn't the heating season, oil and wood prices are higher than they were in the winter, and even thieves are planning ahead. On the cusp of the worst heat wave, someone stole logs from Peabody's Quality Firewood — then returned a week later to steal more, the owner told police.
"They'll do it through the summer, too, so they'll have a couple cords for the winter," said owner Ron Coy, who starts his mornings walking around to see how much wood was stolen overnight.
Coy said suppliers can't keep up with demand, and prices are rising quickly. He sometimes goes a few days without any wood to split and get seasoned, and parts of his yard are empty.
"Guys don't want to come to me because fuel is $5 a gallon," Coy said. "And they're in southern New Hampshire. What's next? Beyond that is Maine and Vermont."
Typically, the wood is being burned in stoves and fireplaces to supplement a building's regular heating system, which typically runs on heating oil or natural gas.
Beth Hogan, executive director of the North Shore Community Action Programs, said wood and other alternatives are options only for suburban homeowners, who will also get crunched by oil prices.
"I think we're facing an emergency, and we need to start talking about it now," said Hogan, whose agency oversees heating oil assistance programs.
A NewEnglandOil.com survey shows heating oil prices were averaging $4.41 a gallon in late June. The federal Energy Information Administration said Massachusetts heating oil prices rose 70 cents a gallon just between February and April. The agency said natural gas prices were higher in April than they were during the core winter months, though the April prices were close to those in 2006 and 2007.
With oil prices going up, supplements like wood and wood pellets are in higher demand.
McKechnie said semi-seasoned firewood is already more expensive than fully seasoned firewood was in winter. He's encouraging customers to stock up, because prices could go up more and supplies could disappear. Heating customers are competing for wood against paper mills also worried about getting a good supply at a good price. Heating oil is the same substance as the diesel fuel that's gotten much more expensive.
"All of this boils down to the cost of fuel, because to get the logs, to get the firewood down to me, to split it, fuel costs are so high it's just escalating the prices tremendously," he said.
Even with the increased price, a cord of wood still costs about half as much as an equivalent amount of heating oil, he said.
Wolf Hill's Ipswich location has about 225 cords in stock now. On Thursday morning, when temperatures were around 85 degrees, it sold three cords, said bulk yard manager Shawn Roberts.
http://www.salemnews.com/punews/loca...ces_printstory
