this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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Electric appliances are generally cheaper to install, and now that gas prices have gone up are also cheaper to operate. There may be some benefit to manufacturers of electric appliances, but that is negated by the impact on the manufacturers of gas appliances. Installation of gas appliances often involved two tradespeople as there is often an electric component, so I would expect overall for there to be slightly less work for installers and trades overall too.
Gas companies have pushed stoves as a way to get gas hookups which tend to also include heat and hot water. The latter use far, far more energy than cooking so they make more money.
I'm not sure how much usage adds to their bottom line these days, but the supply charge definitely keeps going up. I had a look at my figures for gas last year - I paid $392 total, $262 of that was the supply charge. If I expected to be in this house longer (or if the water heater hadn't been recently upgraded) I would definitely be considering changing over. The ongoing costs being cheap used to make gas the most economical option, but I think electric is the better deal these days.
It's literally cheaper in every way to build a home to be all electric. It means you don't need to build new gas lines for entire new neighbourhoods, appliances are cheaper, and you only need one type of tradie to do all the work of installing the infrastructure for said appliances (except for hot water).