Balcas Energy Reviews

4.7 Rating 1,666 Reviews

96 %

of reviewers recommend Balcas Energy

About Balcas Energy:

Balcas Energy is part of Balcas, a natural leader in the world of timber.
We opened our first sawmill in 1962 and became one of the largest in the UK and Ireland. Our success came from our knowledge of and respect for timber. In our quest to make the most of every precious tree, Balcas Energy was born.

A co-product of our operations is pure sawdust. In 2004, using natural tree resin as a binder, our engineers pioneered the production of high quality wood pellets.

Originally known as brites, our high grade EN plus pellets have since grown to become 50% of our business. In 2016, Balcas purchased the UK’s largest wood pellet distribution company Forever Fuels and in 2019, with growth in mind, rebranded as Balcas Energy. Balcas Energy is proud to employ some of the most experienced biomass experts in the UK and Ireland and thanks to our advanced Combined Heat and Power plant, both of our production sites are self-sufficient.

Balcas Energy’s Invergordon and Enniskillen sites have production capacities of 120,000 tonnes and 60,000 tonnes of wood pellets respectively. Our operations are so efficient that we put surplus electricity back into the grid throughout the year.

Balcas employs over 380 people and an additional 300 are engaged in forest harvesting and haulage on our behalf.

Visit our Online Shop: https://balcasenergy.com/online-shop/

Visit Website

Phone:

02866411001

Email:

energy@balcas.com

Location:

75 Killadeas Road, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh
BT94 2ES

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Balcas Energy 5 star review on 9th February 2022

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“24 hrs notice of Delivery spot on with the time.”

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(Avonmouth) - Posted 8 years ago

“What a pleasure! A very competent service from point of order to our delivery of the fuel. 10/10 A big Thank you.”

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(Avonmouth) - Posted 8 years ago

“Efficient quick visit But we were never given any advice about probable timing of visit - so neither of us were on site”

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Posted 8 years ago

“The driver is very helpful and always interested in our problems dealing with the sales of Forever Fuels, because it is never easy..!!”

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(Okehampton) - Posted 8 years ago

“Very efficient.”

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(Fishburn) - Posted 8 years ago

“Very professional quoting, order taking and delivery”

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Posted 8 years ago

“No dust - a bit late on time - Runcorn bridge issues which is understandable”

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(Middlewich) - Posted 8 years ago

“Man was on time, friendly and efficient! Cannot ask for more.”

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(Avonmouth) - Posted 8 years ago

“Driver very obliging”

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(Avonmouth) - Posted 8 years ago

“Trusted supplier of my pellets. Drivers are excellent and very efficient! Would recommend”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Good customer service Good communications Excellent helpful delivery driver (George) Price always the highest around - Can you please be more competative”

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(Fishburn) - Posted 8 years ago

“Very impressed by the clear ordering system, promised delivery date which was kept and the driver managed to find us and reverse down the driveway without any telephone directions. Kevin was very cheerful and efficient. Will order with Forever again.”

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(Fishburn) - Posted 8 years ago

“Good service; pleasant staff and fuel is always top quality.”

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(Fishburn) - Posted 8 years ago

“Chris the driver - EXCELLENT communication both BEFORE & POST delivery. Perfect.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Fuel arrived as promised. Friendly, efficient driver. No problems”

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Posted 8 years ago

“roadworks made delivery tough but Martin sorted it”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Efficient delivery. Courteous driver. Professional approach.”

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(Middlewich) - Posted 8 years ago

“We have had several years of very good service from Forever Fuels until an unfortunate foul up over an urgent new delivery which we requested on 6 February. We were given a forecast and cost for 9 tonnes in a 4 wheeler delivery but a couple of days later the provisional delivery date had drifted to 16 February by which time we would have run out of pellets completely (our problem, I know). I lined up another supplier who promised the earth and on the back of that cancelled with Forever Fuels. The other supplier then failed to deliver.. so back to Forever Fuels... this time, 8 days after their previous quote the price had increased by more than £30 a tonne - equivalent to a 15% price hike or around £280 on the delivery. The way the final ultimatum was put is that they will refund me (because I have paid up front for the whole lot) if I won't agree their price increase. I don't think this is a sustainable way to do business with customers who you know are dependent on a fuel supply, so 0 marks out of 10.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“called day before with time of delivery and filled to brim with great attention given many thanks”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Yet again you have not been able to deliver the full quantity that I ordered. I ordered 3.2 tonnes to allow for a small amount left in the 3.5 tonne hopper and you have only delivered 2..8 tonnes. I cannot see why you were unable to deliver the full amount. In addition to this I find your 7-10 day lead time for delivery unacceptable as it is hard to gauge when my hopper will actually run out.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Your delivery run was shared between 3 customers, with a combined requirement of 12.2 tonnes. The truck holds approx. 14 tonnes. We had more than enough to deliver what you ordered if you could have taken it. Of the other two customers, one took what they ordered, and the other also took less than they ordered. Consequently, the truck had over 2 tonnes left onboard after all the deliveries. There are two possible explanations for what happened: 1. We deliberately supplied less than you ordered even though you could have taken it and despite the fact that we had plenty available, because we like selling less than we could do. 2. You can't tell how much your store holds and its fill level, and keep over-ordering. Common sense says that (2) is the correct explanation, and your comment near enough admits as much: "it is hard to gauge when my hopper will actually run out". But apparently it is our fault that your system does not incorporate one of the most fundamental components required by the industry guidance on wood pellet storage: a proper access hatch (i.e. one that can easily be opened and used for viewing inside at all fill states). And apparently it is also our fault that you installed such a small store that you feel the need to run it to the dregs before ordering. You have used around 2.9 tonnes in 80 days during a coldish winter, i.e. around 36kg per day. If you ordered when you were down to around 800kg (i.e. around one-quarter full), you could be scheduled comfortably for delivery without a rush and without worrying about running out, and take roughly the same quantity as you have been able to take in practice each time. But you seem to feel that you should be able to leave it until you are down to around 5% full (i.e. 5 days' notice at your winter run-rate and store size) before thinking about ordering. We could run enough trucks to make sure that we could deliver to all our customers at short notice in the depths of winter, regardless of the peaks and troughs of their requirements. That level of under-utilisation carries a cost to customers, because the trucks have to be paid for in the limited period that people want heating fuel in the UK (because Brits ignored the advice from Germany to install pellet stores in domestic properties that hold a year's worth of fuel, so that they could be filled up once a year in summer, when deliveries are cheap, readily available, unlikely to be interrupted by bad weather, and when the risks and consquences of letting yourself run really low are much lower). Given those economic realities, a 7-10 day lead-time in high season is very good. It could be reduced, but keeping trucks sitting around waiting for people like you to order at the last minute would exacerbate the under-utilisation and dramatically increase the cost. If you would like to sign up at £500/tonne, we will see what we can do to shorten your lead-time. The trucks and drivers are already drastically under-utilised in summer. You, for instance, took deliveries in Nov, Feb and Apr last winter, and then nothing until the end of Nov 2016. Demand at the winter peaks is roughly four times higher than in the summer troughs. You have chosen to expose yourself to these seasonal variations by installing a store that is too small to insulate yourself against it. Thanks for your review and your custom. You have a legitimate grievance, but not against us. You should take up with your equipment supplier the issue of a fuel-store that is too small for how you would like to operate and which does not incorporate basic features like a proper access hatch. Or you can live with what you have got, and learn to cope with it (e.g. by ordering a bit earlier). What is not reasonable is to blame your fuel supplier for the inadequacies of your installation, and think that somehow we can overcome economic reality (in the winter lead-times) and physical reality (in your store capacity), so that you can get away with buying an inadequate system without having to learn to cope with its limitations.

Posted 8 years ago

Balcas Energy is rated 4.7 based on 1,666 reviews