If you've been thinking of buying firewood or a wood-pellet stove to help heat your home this winter, don't procrastinate.

Even if you order now, you could wait months for delivery.

The energy crisis has pushed many in New Hampshire to seek alternative heating sources, and wood-pellet stoves are a popular choice.

"I have tractor-trailers coming in all the time, loaded with stoves, but they're already sold," said Dave Yakuboff, a dealer at All Basics Stove Shop in Merrimack. "I've been doing this 25 years, and I've never seen it like this before."

Some stores are reporting that customers might not receive their stoves until as late as January.

Meanwhile, demand for firewood to feed wood-burning stoves also has shot way up -- even with prices at record levels. Prices are up 50 percent or more, but wood is still a better investment compared to oil, according to Jon Nute, the Hillsborough County forester.

A cord of dry wood ready to burn is selling for $300 or more, but produces the same energy as 200 gallons of heating oil, which would cost more than $900, he said.

Bob Sundstrom said he's booking firewood orders to be delivered 10 to 12 weeks out, partly because the Milford wood dealer is having a difficult time getting enough supply.

Pellet boom

Chris Smith, a salesman at Abundant Life Wood & Gas Stoves in Chichester, said pellet-stove sales this year were projected to increase by a healthy 30 percent. Instead, "there's been an over 400 percent increase," he said. "It's been crazy."

Pellet-stove manufacturers, Smith said, were caught by surprise at the surge in demand, and are now working to increase their production. He's advising customers that if they buy now, they may not get their stoves until January, although he's hoping the suppliers will catch up before then.

Last year, Smith said, his store sold 150 pellet stoves. Already this year, they've sold about 400.

And it's not just folks in New Hampshire looking for heating alternatives. "I got a call from Pennsylvania the other day looking for pellet stoves," he said.

Smith's advice: "Even if (stores) are backlogged, come in early, because it's just going to get further out."

Comparing efficiency

Comparing fuel types, it takes around four tons of wood pellets to heat a 2,000 square-foot home for a year, or less than $1,200 before delivery.

An average home in New Hampshire uses between 800 and 1,000 gallons of home heating oil. So at $4.699 a gallon, a price quoted by one oil dealer last week, a home owner would face an oil bill of $3,800 to $4,700 -- and naturally more for those paying a higher per-gallon price.

Those burning firewood could use four to five cords a year. Using $325 for a cord price, that would mean $1,300 to $1,625, plus delivery in some cases.

People looking to fuel those pellet stoves apparently has also caused what dealers hope is only a temporary shortage of wood pellets.

Keeping up with demand

Charlie Niebling is general manager of New England Wood Pellet LLC in Jaffrey, currently the only pellet manufacturer in New Hampshire. He explained what's behind the shortage.

Pellets used for wood-pellet stoves are shown at Abundant Life Wood & Gas Stoves in Chichester. (CHERYL SENTER/UNION LEADER)

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"The last couple months, there's been just a tremendous increase in demand for pellet fuel, and it came all at once."

In a "normal" year, Niebling said, about one-quarter of pellet customers buy their annual supplies in the spring, when prices tend to be lower. "This year, for whatever reason, everybody decided to purchase their pellets in the spring. And neither we nor any manufacturer can keep up with the tremendous spike in demand over the last several months.

"And certainly the panic over oil prices and how people are going to afford to stay warm this winter is a major driver in what's going on right now."

Niebling likened the situation to "a run on the bank." But, he said, his company and other pellet manufacturers are catching up.

"The market is responding, and there are various proposals for new pellet plants in the region, including one in Berlin," he said. Come fall, there should be abundant supplies in the region."

Hot stoves

A Goffstown pellet supplier, Pelletsales.com, expects to sell five times as many pellets this year as last, according to President and CEO Jon Strimling.

"I think what's driving sales is people are getting their home heating bills," Strimling said. "People are getting concerned about the environment and want to do the right thing, especially if it can save them some money."

Strimling is selling pellets for $269 to $279 a ton now, about $10 more than at this time last year but $60 to $70 more than in March, when prices had dropped. Home delivery will run about $35 a ton.

Raymond Fire Chief Kevin Pratt said that he is receiving "lots of calls" each day from residents who have recently installed new pellet stoves or are thinking about getting their old wood-burning stoves going again.

Pratt said the situation mirrors the economic downturn of about 20 years ago, when residents started looking at ways to save money in the face of a similar poor housing market.

Stores are reporting brisk sales.

At Fireplace Village in Bedford, customers won't receive their stoves until October.

June sales are up close to 500 percent compared to the previous June, and 90 percent of customers are inquiring about the pellet stoves or inserts for their fireplaces, according to store manager Jeff Taylor.

In Nashua, Al Carachio of Pellet King said he sold 100 stoves last month -- 10 times the number for a typical June.

"The demand is just enormous," he said. "I've never seen anything like this at this time of the year," Carachio said.

Correspondent Toby Henry contributed to this report.