Copyright 2019 Tony Lima. All rights reserved. Excerpts up to 250 words are permitted as long as a link to this article is included and credit given to the author.
In my previous article on the subject, I focused on the production and transmission of electricity compared to natural gas. Here I want to look at the cost to the homeowner of the various options for kitchen stoves. There are three types of stoves I considered: gas, electric, and induction.
Let’s get one thing out-of-the-way upfront. Buying induction is still more expensive than either of the other two options. Gas stoves are the cheapest followed by plain electric. I went to Lowe’s online and compared three similar Frigidaire models.[i] Each had five burners. The electric and induction versions had 5.4 cubic foot ovens, well the gas model was 4.2 cubic feet. The gas model had a list price of $749, but was on sale for $629 through August 7, 2019. The plane electric version had a list price of $799 but was available for $719 through August 7. The induction model had a list price of $1,099, but was on sale for $899 through August 7.
But let’s face it. The real cost of the kitchen stove are the annual operating costs. Luckily for me Mr. Michael Bluejay has provided a webpage that allows us to do these estimates.[ii] I got the prices for gas and electricity by averaging over the two tiers of our gas and electric bill. We live in an area that uses two tiered pricing so these prices may not reflect what’s relevant for you.
(Click for larger image)
As you can see an electric ignition gas range will cost $66 per year a conventional electric range with a standard oven will cost $256 per year and induction stove top with a convection oven will cost $180 per year.
Congratulations, Berkeley residents. Not only do you get to pay more for your electric stove, you also contribute to greater greenhouse gas emissions.
[i] Lowes online, kitchen ranges. Available at https://www.lowes.com/c/Ranges-Appliances Accessed July 26, 2019.
[ii] Bluejay, Michael. “Natural Gas vs. Electric: Which is cheaper?” Available at https://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooking.html Accessed July 26, 2019.
