Induction Stove Electricity Calculator

What does the induction stove calculator show?

Induction cooking has gone from a novelty to the standard kitchen appliance in urban India — and with every LPG cylinder refill crossing the ₹900–1,100 mark, families rightly ask: is cooking on electricity actually cheaper than gas? This calculator answers it with your own numbers. Enter the stove's wattage, the power level you usually cook at, and daily cooking time, and you get the monthly units, cost, an LPG-equivalent figure, and the rupees you save or lose against a cylinder.

The answer is genuinely surprising in both directions. Quick, small cooking — a chai, an omelette, a single chapati pan — chews through pennies of electricity. But heavy cooking for a family of five can push the induction bill past a cylinder's cost if your electricity rate is high. Knowing where your own kitchen sits on that line is exactly what this calculator is for.

How induction cooking cost is calculated

The model uses three inputs, all of which you control on the knob daily:

• Wattage — typically 1600–2000W for a standard kitchen induction
• Power level — how hard it runs (60% on the knob is not the same as 100%)
• Cooking time — hours per day, days per month

• Units consumed = (watts × power%) ÷ 1,000 × hours × days
• Cost = units × your electricity unit rate

Example: a 1800W stove simmering at 60% power for 1.5 hours daily. Effective draw ≈ 1,080W. That's 1.62 units/day, about 48 units a month, ₹340 at ₹7/unit. A family using induction this much would typically burn a 14.2kg LPG cylinder every 5–7 weeks — meaning the induction out-performs gas when the electricity rate is under roughly ₹7–8/unit for this pattern, and slides under once again at the very top of the rate range.

Induction vs LPG — the monthly math

Read the LPG row as "one full cylinder's equivalent". For a small family doing light cooking, induction can cost 30–50% below an LPG cylinder every month. The gap narrows for heavy, multi-meal cooking on soaring tariffs — which is why families often run both: induction for the daily rice-dal routine and gas for heavy pressure-cooker and deep-fry sessions.

Is induction really more efficient than gas?

Yes, in a strict energy sense — but the "efficiency" that lands on your bill is the price ratio, not the physics. Induction transfers around 84–90% of input heat into the vessel, versus roughly 35–45% for a stove-top burner and 45–60% for a pressure cooker, because the pan itself becomes the heat source. The catch: electricity costs typically 2–3× more than gas per unit of delivered heat. So induction is efficient, but the price of a unit is the whole game. That's why the LPG price and your slab rate are the two variables that flip the answer.

What a meal actually costs to cook

Quick practical numbers at ₹7/unit:

• A cup of chai — ~1,500W for 3 minutes ≈ ₹0.5
• An omelette — 2,000W for 5 minutes ≈ ₹1.2
• Dal for a couple of people — 1,500W at 80% for 25 minutes ≈ ₹2.6
• Full dinner for family — 3 dishes, 60 minutes at 70% ≈ ₹8–12

Notice most single-cook tasks cost under ₹1. The monthly total is a pure function of how many such tasks you do and at what power. Skip the knob all the way down when simmering — 30–40% power is plenty for dal and boiled rice.

When gas still makes sense

• Heavy bulk cooking — large pots, multiple meals, and pressure-cooker-heavy households where induction's wattage ceiling slows things down
• High electricity tariffs — above ~₹9/unit along with frequent rolling cutouts
• No backup — a power cut mid-meal is a real cost of induction-only kitchens
• Very low LPG subsidy states — where bottles flirt with ₹700 each

Using induction wisely

• Match the power to the job — simmering at 100% is wasted heat
• Use flat-base compatible cookware — pans and pots that reach full surface
• Keep a pressure cooker for rice/daal — short bursts of opaque power vs simmering
• Keep the surface clean so the heat-sensor works for the whole plate
• Beware of high tariff slabs — check your state's rate before switching entirely from LPG

Induction stove calculator FAQs