Prices for wood pellets have risen sharply

Specifically, the average price in western Austria rose from 308 euros per ton in August 2025 to 396 euros in January 2026 – an increase of 28.5 percent. In the north it became 22.7 percent more expensive (374 euros), in the south the price increase was 19.7 percent (364 euros), reports Crown newspaper.

It is also interesting to look at the pellet price index from the ProPellets industry association: in 2006 the index was 123 points, in 2016 it was 128 and in 2026 it was already at 210 points. In January the pellet price was 7.77 c/kWh, which is a month-on-month increase of 4.2 percent, and over the year the increase was as high as 24.7 percent. At the same time, prices for natural gas, heating oil and electricity fell significantly year-on-year. When purchasing a typical household quantity (according to ProPellets, this is around six tonnes), an average of 373 euros per tonne was due across Austria in January.

Burgenland cheaper than Tyrol

There was an exceptional situation for the seasonal development of pellet prices in 2025. In recent years, the cheapest prices were usually found in spring. Prices in April and May were an average of five to ten percent below the level of the autumn and winter months. “In 2022, this course was interrupted for the first time by the effects of the war in Ukraine. Due to the geopolitical situation, there was no storage campaign – the usual seasonal price structure did not occur,” writes ProPellets.

What hasn’t changed last year is the regional price difference. Users in Tyrol and Vorarlberg continue to pay the most, followed by the Salzburg region, Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Vienna. In the eastern region, which also includes the sparsely wooded Burgenland (along with Styria, Carinthia and East Tyrol), heating with pellets is the cheapest.

The heating oil industry sees itself as a price stabilizer

The Energie.Wärme.Österreich industry association emphasized today that heating oil prices are stable despite high demand – while buyer interest has driven up pellet prices. “Within the energy component of the consumer price index (CPI), heating oil proved to be a stabilizing factor in 2025,” said Managing Director Martin Reichard. And he sees another advantage of the fossil energy supplier: “While other heating systems reach their limits at very low temperatures, heating oil offers a high degree of operational reliability.”