NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — There is coal as far as the eye can see at Atlas Anthracite Coal Corporation. The facility outside Mount Carmel processes anthracite coal.
"We have five different sizes, mainly used for residential and institutional home heating and industrial heating," Jeff Molesevich said.
Jeff Molesevich owns the company and says coal does much more than heat homes. He sells coal for steel, water filtration, glass making, and more. He has seen prices increase significantly over the last few months and attributes some of that to supply and demand.
"There is much more of a demand right now currently for anthracite products than the supply that's on the market, which is driving the price up," Molesevich said.
Molesevich says his current price for retail customers is $205 per ton of coal. Last year this time, it was $175.
"Some of our supplies are going up 100 percent or more, so we're incurring those costs. We're trying to keep it still affordable for our local customers," Molesevich said.
He says fuel prices and the war in Ukraine have played large roles in the record high coal prices.
"The supply going out of Russia and Ukraine is disrupted, and European countries, as well as the United States, has seen an upswing in the use of anthracite coal," Molesevich said.
But even with higher prices, Molesevich says home heating oil is still almost four times more expensive than coal.
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