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Billy Ridge, owner of Conejo Valley Electric, has recently been replacing gas stoves with electric ones at a rate of about three or four per week. “It’s not up to the level yet of the other big green effort. My crews are installing about four electric car chargers per day in people’s homes,” he said. “But it’s for the same reasons.”
The reason is not just environmental concern. “It usually takes two or three reasons before people will spend that kind of money,” Ridge explained. “It might start with solar. They get incentives to put in [solar] panels, and then they want to use the electricity they are generating. So a big part of it is spending money now to save more money later.”
The switch from gas to electric is not cheap, even if it is limited to just an oven and cooktop. For the typical job, Ridge usually recommends at least $3,500 to update the electrical panel, $1,000 for a new electric line, and $300 for a permit. “But when they go solar, it [the cost] is a lot lower, because they usually already have a new [electrical] panel, and even space for a 240 [volt line to dedicate a circuit for just the new range], so that is another savings,” he explained.
Wayne Morgan, an electrical engineer in Ventura, was one of those homeowners benefitting by pairing range replacement with solar installation, and his installation cost even less than expected. He paid $1,169 at Home Depot for an electric convection oven with an induction range, $26 for a power cord, and $25 for the old range to be hauled away for recycling, but that was all. He was able to simply slide out the old gas range, slide in the new one, and plug it in. Luckily, there was a four-prong, 240-volt socket right next to the old gas line. According to Ridge, about 20 percent of homes built from 1965 to 1985 already have a 240-volt socket near a gas stove.
Morgan made the stove switch as part of a whole house conversion of gas to electric, so he also paid nothing for shutting off the gas line to the old range. The Gas Company simply shut off the pipe.
The gas line to a range is flexible, so Morgan points out that you can slide out the oven and stove like a refrigerator to check for a socket. He recommends putting cardboard under the feet of the range to avoid scratching the floor.
Besides environmental concerns and cost savings, Morgan switched to induction for cleanliness. “It’s not just about clean air, it’s also about a clean range top,” he said. With an induction cooktop, the stove itself does not heat, so an overflow of pasta or a spill of oatmeal will not bake onto the cooking surface. Using a magnetic connection, heat transfers directly to the pots or pans. Heat levels are measurable, exact and decline to zero when the stove is turned off.
Even non-induction electric stoves provide a cleanliness advantage when the heating elements are recessed below a ceramic glass cooktop. Wiping up spills is easy. Of course, traditional, exposed heating coils get messy and may be more difficult to clean than a gas system.
For many, the motivation to switch from gas to electric is primarily based on environmental concern, but that concern is about both the global environment and indoor air quality affecting personal environments. As noted by Steven Allison, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine, “Methane (the primary component of natural gas) accounts for nearly 30% of global warming,” and a December 2022 study concluded that almost 13% of current childhood asthma in the United States may be attributable to gas stove use.
Some people would like to switch out their appliances for electric ones but are waiting until later this year, when incentives will be available through the Federal Inflation Reduction Act. For example, Allison Maires, a retired teacher living in Ventura, is concerned the asthma suffered by her son might be attributable to the 72-year-old natural gas furnace and an old stove in her home. She recommends those interested in incentives look up benefits available at www.rewiringamerica.org. She expects to use rebates of $800 for an induction stove; $4,000 for electrical panel upgrades; and $2,500 towards additional electrical work.
Stacy Stapleton, a chemical engineer who used to work at the Procter and Gamble tissue factory in Oxnard, has a modern gas range with a good ventilation system, so indoor air quality was not as much of an issue, but she was concerned about climate-changing emissions. She found a practical solution. Since she was mainly using her stove to boil water, she substituted an electric tea kettle. For baking, she found that an electric toaster oven meets most of her needs. For occasional stovetop cooking, she is substituting a separate, plug-in, removable cooktop.
With many reasons for electric cooking, Ridge expects more work for his electric company, and one source of methane gas emissions is likely to diminish.
County Public Works Environmental Resource Analyst, may be
reached at 805-658-4312 or
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