What Is the Pricing History of Coal?

Post by **Lightning** » Fri. Oct. 02, 2015 10:01 pm

There isn't any sales tax on heating fuel in PA. New York has 3%. I'm guessing it varies by state.

ad356 · Post by **ad356** » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 7:15 am

i have never paid a tax on heating fuel, maybe every county is different but wyoming county has NO TAX on heating fuel. of course this county is a little more reasonable then most of the rest of the state. erie county is 8.75% sales tax we pay 8%, and I know that there are many people paying as much as $6,000 or even more for property and school taxes for people living in the towns of east aurora, orchard park, and hamburg. I live in a rural county and in a rural community, my taxes are around $2,000 which nationally is still high but for ny is pretty cheap. I would never buy a home where the taxes are that much, just plain stupid. that's $500 in the escrow just in taxes, my entire mortgage is $800.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 7:29 am

Full sales tax on coal in Ohio. By county this ranges from 6.5% to 8%. Most counties are at 7.25%.

Post by **StokerDon** » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 11:00 am

ad356 wrote:
titleist1 wrote:
yeah it has been fluctuating +/-4 degrees from the setpoint. im starting to think this is normal and I only hope the temperature swings don't become greater as the fall becomes winter. I guess coal troll is the only way to correct that. its really not a huge deal anyways.

ad,

That IS they way this "On Demand" system should work. You are doing well! That also means, the colder it gets, the more coal it will use.

The addition of Coal-Trol might net you some slight coal savings but not much. It would be a better idea to do insulation and windows before investing in Coal-Trol as this will give you the most coal savings.

Stay warm!

-Don

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 12:09 pm

Lightning wrote:There isn't any sales tax on heating fuel in PA. New York has 3%. I'm guessing it varies by state.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j& ... 55-mReWkiw

Varies by county apparently lol

Post by **Richard S.** » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 1:22 pm

The price has gone up quite a bit since 2000. It's about a 50% to 75% increase before adjusting for inflation. Because of this large increase I expect the prices will remain very stable over the coming years and may even go down relative to inflation.

One thing to note is those price increases were incremental and annual. Whatever it is in the fall is pretty much what it will be until Spring when you will usually see a modest price decrease. An increase in the middle of winter is rare and the overnight spikes you see in other fuels just don't happen.

gweedow · Post by **gweedow** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 9:24 pm

Wow, where do some of you guys live. Because I'm seeing in this post. 190.00, 200.00, a little over 200.00 dollars a ton some under 190.00. I just started my hand feed furnace up a few days ago with the very little nut I had left. So I called the supplier up that I use, and he said it is up to 265.00 dollars a ton. Geeeshhss. I all so called the local fuel oil supplier up, and the oil is 1.96 a gallon for 100 gallons, and 1.86 a gallon for 150 gallons. Now true, I live way at the south western part of Pennsylvania. Far from Anthracite digs, but man what a price rise. I have two yards that supply nut and rice and bagged. Both are about 23 miles or a little more from me. Others a further away. Up north. Being that oil here has gone down so much, I may get oil in first and then coal later. I'll call tomorrow this other place that I said was 20 some miles away and see if there price is the same. Maybe some of you know the outfit I've been getting the coal from last year. Go's under (Heet inc.). I'm truly not an expert at burning coal versus oil. But I read a few days ago that 100 gallons of Oil is 0.96 the same as 1 ton of coal. I don't think I put that right, but 100 gallons of oil is all most the same as 1 ton of anthracite. So, oil right now is better choice price wise. Am I correct? Honest, I would like to here from you all. I forgot to mention I have a combination coal/oil furnace. Newmac. Any you guys or gals from here in south west Pa.?? have you got anthracite cheaper?? Thanks.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 9:43 pm

For a super high efficiency oil appliance it's probably closer to 150-160 gallons of #2 oil = 1 ton anthracite. But if your oil appliance is old, this could go closer to 185 gallons.

hank2 · Post by **hank2** » Tue. Oct. 06, 2015 2:02 am

I thought that I would post some prices that I paid for bulk deliveries over the years. The figures are from memory, so read at your own risk.

I was away from coal use for several years, at several different times.

1978- $44 ton
1979- $80-$85 ton ( more or less doubled from 1979 Arab oil embargo-the second and worst one). Gasoline almost doubled to $.80 a gal.
Slow increase for retail prices to about 1995. $110 ton
1998 , still $115 ton
to
2001-$140 ton ?

no coal bought until

2008-$190 ton.
2013-$230 ton
2014-235 ton
2015- $265 ton. ( paid more for desired coal).

These were all prices from delivery resellers in Pa., maybe 40 miles from coal breakers.

Even when gas and heating oil prices crashed in 1998 ( $18 a barrel oil, wholesale and $.80 a gal. gas in Pa.) coal prices never dropped more than a couple dollars a ton. I believe that is the also the case right now. I almost decided to cut my coal use back this Winter, from 6 months to 2 or 3 months. I am cutting back a little to maybe 5 months. The savings from coal use have really dropped, but I still enjoy using it.
I'm guessing that with the big drop in demand for coal for industrial use and maybe export, the home use coal will not likely ever go down. When oil goes back up, coal will rise a bit as well.

Post by **Richard S.** » Tue. Oct. 06, 2015 7:40 am

gweedow wrote:Wow, where do some of you guys live. Because I'm seeing in this post. 190.00, 200.00, a little over 200.00 dollars a ton some under 190.00.

Those prices are going to be in the Northeastern Pennsylvania area. You're paying a higher price for the shipping.

But I read a few days ago that 100 gallons of Oil is 0.96 the same as 1 ton of coal.

If you are paying $265/ton the oil would have to be about $1.50/gallon before it's comparable. That's assuming same efficiency. You can do you own calculation and adjust for efficiency using the calculator:

https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating