Gas v electric cooking- much difference in cost?

rosie383

We are going to be moving within the next few weeks if all goes to plan. The house we are buying has an electric cooker and even though it has a gas supply, we will have to get an electric cooker to use until we redo the kitchen. My dh was almost not going to buy the house because it didn't have a gas point in the kitchen. He comes from a country where gas is cheap and electricity is very expensive so he looked at the cooker with horror!
My sister has always had an electric cooker but is not very money saving so didn't have a clue if there was a huge difference.
Obviously we will just get a second hand one to do us for a bit but my dh is still unhappy about it. Can anyone give me an idea? I do have a pressure cooker and SC which I use.

Ben84

Gas is much cheaper than electricity. I know a site that compares prices:

http://www.confusedaboutenergy.co.uk/index.php/buying-household-appliances/cookers

It's worth having a gas cooker. But it's not so massive that using electric for a while is going to matter much.

However, buying an electric cooker for short term use might be expensive. Depends if you you're willing to buy second hand or not. If you're not, then I wonder if getting the gas pipe put in sooner would be worth it as you'll save a lot on buying just the one cooker?

One thing however, if you're used to gas, you might not like electric cooking. Electric ovens can be slow to heat up, but they're ok. The hobs however are difficult, they're really slow and any change in the settings takes ages to do anything to the heat output.

rosie383

I guarantee that I am not going to like cooking on electric. I have used it in the past on holiday. If it is possible to use the gas point now, with the help of a gas safe engineer of course, then we will do that. We are intending to completely change the layout of the kitchen, so I won't spend much on it for now. And I will definitely be selling my gas cooker on ebay or gumtree and buying an electric one the same way as cheap as possible for the meantime.

honeythewitch

rosie383 wrote: »

I guarantee that I am not going to like cooking on electric. I have used it in the past on holiday. If it is possible to use the gas point now, with the help of a gas safe engineer of course, then we will do that. We are intending to completely change the layout of the kitchen, so I won't spend much on it for now. And I will definitely be selling my gas cooker on ebay or gumtree and buying an electric one the same way as cheap as possible for the meantime.

Have you thought about an induction hob? You need magnetic pans such as stainless steel and cast iron, but they heat the pan not the hob surface, use very little electricity and are very nearly as controllable as gas.

rosie383

Thanks honeythewitch. Once we do the kitchen I will be back on gas. If I have a choice of second hand cookers then I will go for your suggestion. Now if only the vendor decided to just leave her cooker. Our buyer doesn't want ours so I need to get rid of it. In best KM style I am refusing to take anything with us that we neither need, want or like.

Butterfly_Brain

I have an electric cooker and it is an energy drain, I do know that the new ones are only 13amp instead of 30amp so are cheaper to run.

I tend to use my halogen cooker a lot more than the oven, which only goes on if it is going to be filled. I have an extra rack in my oven so I tend to have a baking day or if I am making a casserole, I will make three and a pie or cottage pies etc and I freeze then, they ten just need a quick reheat.

Ben84

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I have an electric cooker and it is an energy drain, I do know that the new ones are only 13amp instead of 30amp so are cheaper to run.

It shouldn't make any difference. If the wattage goes up, the amount of time the element stays switched on goes down proportionally. So, double the wattage and the element will be on half as much, resulting in identical energy use.

Of course, this assumes the oven otherwise remains the same. Some higher wattage ovens might in fact be less efficient. Maybe less insulation and/or bigger. Of course, so might some lower wattage ones! Personally, to figure out efficiency, I'd ignore the amps of the supply and wattage and simply look at the energy ratings given to appliances these days, which take in to account the many variables and tell you how much they really cost to run in straightforward, comparable terms.

rosie383

Thanks for the info guys. I think I am just going to have to be really careful, use the pressure cooker and slow cooker as much as possible. I think also it will be a good learning time for us, chopping things smaller and lids on etc. I haven't been as careful when cooking as I should have been I suppose.

Debran

honeythewitch wrote: »

Have you thought about an induction hob? You need magnetic pans such as stainless steel and cast iron, but they heat the pan not the hob surface, use very little electricity and are very nearly as controllable as gas.

Both steel and cast iron items are magnetic. However, stainless steel is not.