At the latest ADEME benchmark, delivered pellets are worth €365/t in bulk, €339/t bagged at retail and €383/t bagged on a pallet, after a fall of 24% to 33% over one year depending on the pack format. The Propellet index for the fourth quarter of 2025 confirms that plateau at around €370/t delivered in bulk, or roughly 8 c€ per kWh net calorific value. The figure that matters to you, though, is not that average but the spread around it: over the same season, ADEME records delivered bulk prices ranging from €294 to €620/t. That gap, not the national trend, decides the margin on a fuel line priced six months before delivery.
What pellets are worth at the benchmark, by pack format
The delivered price series since the 2022 crisis
The ADEME survey of wood fuel prices, carried out by CODA Stratégies, tracks prices delivered to households, VAT included. It is the only consistent series available, and it shows the 2022 peak has been worked off.
| Pack format | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Change 2024/2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk pellets | €287/t | €528/t | €479/t | €365/t | −24% |
| Bagged pellets, retail | €318/t | €743/t | €509/t | €339/t | −33% |
| Bagged pellets, pallet | €318/t | €579/t | €498/t | €383/t | −23% |
| Logs, average across formats | €71/stère | €77/stère | €84/stère | €87/stère | +3% |
Two lessons for a costing. First, pellets have dropped back below their 2023 level while logs kept climbing, which closes down the switch-to-logs argument some clients heard in 2023. Second, retail bags, long the dearest format, have moved back below palletised bags: the packaging differential can no longer be assumed, it has to be checked.
Expressed in energy terms, using the 4,600 kWh net calorific value per tonne that ADEME applies, delivered prices run from 4.5 c€/kWh for 50 cm logs to 8 c€/kWh for retail-bagged pellets. That is the order of magnitude to set against a gas or oil boiler when fuels are compared at equal energy content.
The spread, which weighs more than the trend
Over the season surveyed, the gap between the lowest and highest price reaches a factor of two to three depending on the pack format, against a factor of four the season before.
| Pack format | Average delivered price | Minimum price | Maximum price | Standard deviation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk pellets | €391/t | €294/t | €620/t | €73 |
| Bagged pellets, retail | €368/t | €263/t | €733/t | €67 |
| Bagged pellets, pallet | €398/t | €239/t | €750/t | €65 |
On palletised bags, the €65 standard deviation represents 12% of the selling price, against 15% in 2022-2023. The market is tightening, but a 12% standard deviation still exceeds the margin on most supply lines. A fuel line priced off the national average without a local quotation is a line priced blind.
Geography explains part of the gap without covering it. On 15 kg bags palletised into one-tonne loads delivered, ADEME records €369/t in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes against €433 in Brittany, for a national average of €398/t, a 17% regional spread. Production basins stay below the average.
Securing supply on a job
When to order so the delivery round does not dictate terms
The constraint is not national stock but the blower truck's round. Size your needs at the end of winter, commit volumes in spring, and split deliveries by job with a written schedule. In the heating season, bulk lead times commonly move from a few days to two or three weeks, which is enough to push back a commissioning date and slip the handover.
Choosing the source by the volume committed
The local producer holds responsiveness, the merchant holds volume, the DIY shed gets you out of trouble but its availability swings from week to week. Require a quality mark in every case: ADEME records that only 2% of distributors offer none, with DIN+ covering 82% of the offer and NF granulés 46%. Near-universal labelling makes the marketing argument useless and moves the check onto the batch delivered rather than onto the logo, as our article on ENplus and DINplus certifications sets out.
Sizing the buffer stock without tying up cash
Two to four weeks of consumption, restock after that, first in first out, dry storage on pallets and away from cold walls. On cash flow, 30-day terms and staggered deliveries cost less than a bulk purchase out of season. The useful volume follows from the store installed, and sizing the pellet store drives delivery frequency as much as the space available.
What makes a batch, and what it does to the price
What a quality mark actually guarantees
ENplus A1, DINplus and NF granulés impose checks on the raw material, manufacturing and traceability. Check the certificate number and the producer's name, not the pictogram. Distributors carry several brands to cover a range from entry product to premium, and ADEME notes that two batches under the same mark can differ widely in quality and price.
The three quantities to check on delivery
Fines content drives how evenly the auger feeds, and therefore how often it jams. Moisture cuts output and breaks the pellet down, and you need to check which basis the figure is expressed on, as our article on firewood moisture content explains. Calorific value varies with species and drying, and feeds straight into the cost per usable kWh you quote.
What logistics destroys
In bulk, blowing breaks pellets and generates fines as the hose run lengthens or the pressure is set wrong: have the length run out recorded on the delivery note. In bags, an opened pallet or one stored straight onto the slab takes up moisture within days. A degraded batch burns unevenly, and the complaint reaches the installer before it reaches the supplier.
Pricing the fuel line on a quote
What goes on the quote, and at what rate
The pellet line is priced per tonne delivered, VAT at 10% on the supply alone under 3° bis of article 278 bis of the French tax code. Where the supply accompanies the installation of a high-performance wood heating appliance in a dwelling completed more than two years ago, it follows the rate of the measure. Isolate the line, show the pack format, the tonnage and the quality mark chosen: that level of detail is what holds at inspection. The line stays separate when the quote is built item by item from the work plan, with VAT applied per measure.
An index clause rather than a firm price
On a commitment beyond three months, two drafting options hold: a firm price over a short window with a deposit at order, or an adjustable price indexed to a dated public series. The spread recorded by ADEME makes a firm six-month price structurally risky on bulk. Spell out what the price covers, delivery, hose run, handling and storage, or the extra gets negotiated after the event.
What you commit to on annual volume
Annual consumption is estimated from actual use, primary heating or supplementary, and from the state of the fabric, not from floor area alone. The usual range runs from 1.5 to 3.5 tonnes a year, and it tightens once you work back from bills and from the output actually installed.
- The tonnage quoted to the client commits your costing: base it on a calculated demand, not on a rate per square metre.
- Annual servicing and sweeping drive the efficiency assumed in that calculation, so write them into the contract.
- The batch delivered must match the class required by the appliance manual, or the manufacturer's warranty falls away.
Arbitrating between pellets and another fuel without losing the job
When a switch to another vector stands up
The price ratio per kWh has reopened in favour of pellets: heating oil now sits 25% to 30% above bulk or palletised pellets, with the same storage and delivery constraints. Against electricity, the gap per kWh net calorific value reaches a factor of four to six depending on use. The argument holds, then, provided it rests on a calculated demand rather than on a price per tonne.
Working with the other measures in the work plan
Where budget bites, the mix is built on the fabric before the appliance: insulating a loft or a ground floor cuts the output needed, so the annual tonnage, so the exposure to fuel prices. That kind of trade-off comes together when the measures are picked from the property and the objective, then priced together, and the resource and supply side of the sector sets the national frame these volumes sit in.
Managing supplier risk without passing it to the client
Lock references as soon as the quote is signed, keep a minimum stock of consumables, and write an equivalent-class replacement into the contract. On the client side, set dated milestones and record every decision in writing: on a line whose price moves by a 12% standard deviation, the written record is what separates a revision from a dispute.
