Success Stories
New England Wood Pellets

With our help, New England Wood Pellets has seen its business go up in flames.

Wood pellets are the fuel that makes wood pellet stoves so convenient, clean, and cost-effective. But manufacturing pellets is not so simple. The best pellets seem to be the outcome of both skill and magic. In 1995, New England Wood Pellets found itself growing beyond even their own expectations. That was when PSNH helped to facilitate their move from Acton, Massachusetts to Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Today, New England Wood Pellets is proof that the more skills you put to work, the more magic you create.

To facilitate New England Wood Pellets' move and insure its success in New Hampshire, PSNH worked with the company to help resolve some financing and operating cost issues.

"The cost of power was the first issue I dealt with before deciding to move to the state," says Steve Walker, owner of New England Wood Pellets. "The electricity that runs our machinery is our second highest operating cost, and when one factor represents as much as 20 percent of your overall costs, it can make or break you. PSNH spent a lot of time working with me so that I understood their rates and charges and how to operate more cost-effectively."

PSNH's Economic and Community Development Division worked with the State's Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) to help New England Wood Pellets secure financing from First NH Bank and a community development block grant through the Keene Economic Development and Revitalization Corporation. With this financing and technical assistance, Walker was able to build the state-of-the-art facility he had in mind. Since then, NEWP has expanded their facility even more, adding a new sawdust handling facility and a dryer to the plant allowing increased production.

For more information on New England Wood Pellets, visit their website www.pelletheat.com.