An LPG gas cylinder could be more affordable, but piped gas is still more convenient

Home cooking or household cooking may soon be on the minds of most, if it has not already, as a way to curb rising expenses amidst a fast-increasing inflationary environment. While we may think of cost-cutting on the ingredients that go into our dishes, we may not think twice about the way we cook our meals.

Most households in Singapore may have an option between an LPG gas cylinder, piped gas, or an induction cooker. While we could be using one of these options, whether knowingly by choice or because it was handed over by the previous house owner, each has its pros and cons.

More importantly, in this article, we crunch the numbers to find out which amongst these three options is the cheapest for household cooking. Our findings might be contrary to popular belief.

First, let’s understand the advantages and disadvantages of each of the three cooking options.

Read Also: [Inflation Watch] Singapore’s Core Inflation Rises To 3.3%: 7 Items That Got More Expensive In April 2022

Bottled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), colloquially also known as cylinder gas, uses a mixture of hydrocarbons consisting mainly of commercial propane and butane. It is the most commonly used fuel by both households and commercials for cooking and heating purposes around the world.

In Singapore, there are a few LPG cylinder gas retailers, including the SGX-listed Union Gas, SingGas, and Yew Lee Heng LP-Gas. Aside from the older estates or HDB flats that have no piped gas connection, the use of gas cylinders is waning due to lower adoption by new homeowners.

City Energy, which was previously known as City Gas, was founded in 1861 to provide piped gas to light the street lamps. Subsequently, in the 1950s, it started supplying piped town gas to HDB flats, private condominiums, landed properties as well as businesses.

Today, City Energy remains the only town gas manufacturerSP and retailer in Singapore, serving over 870,000 homes and businesses with piped natural gas and other low-carbon solutions.

City Energy would only assist in installing exposed gas pipes in HDB premises, including gas appliances in both HDB and private premises. Therefore, households that do not have a piped gas network do not have this option for consideration.

Read Also: Guide To Utilities Meter Readings in Singapore – And Why Your Electricity Bill Might Be Higher In June/July

The third option that is available to households is the induction cooktop. While gas and ceramic cooktops use thermal conduction to transfer heat from the burner to the pan, induction cooktops, which have glass tops, use electromagnetic currents to directly heat pots and pans.

However, not all pots and pans can be used on an induction cooktop. For example, those that are 100% copper, glass, aluminium or non-magnetic stainless steel would not work on an induction cooktop. Therefore, you need flat-surface cookware that is made of magnetic metal, such as cast iron, stainless steel, or those that have a magnetic layer at the bottom.

This option is available to all households as the cooktop is powered by electricity.

Now, we shall work out how much it costs to use an LPG gas cylinder, piped gas, and induction cooker for household cooking.

The standard capacity of an LPG gas cylinder that is used for residential homes is either 12.7 kg or 14 kg. However, residents usually prefer the smaller, 12.7 kg capacity gas cylinder. It is currently being sold for between $36 and $40.

The current (1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022) town gas tariff rate charged by City Gas is 23.18 cents/kWh (with GST). The rate is reviewed every quarter.

We will calculate the cost of using piped gas for the same volume of use as one unit of 12.7kg capacity sized LPG gas cylinder.

The calorific value of LPG can be worked out as 1 kg = 1.969 litres. Consequently, we can convert the litre value to kilowatt hours (kWh), which works out to 1L = 6.9 kWh.

Hence, if we were to use the above two formulas to convert our baseline of 12.7kg capacity of LPG to kWh, we would get:

(i)  12.7kg x 1.969 litres = 25.0063 litres

So, for the same capacity of usage as one LPG gas cylinder, you would have to pay roughly $40. This is somewhat equivalent to the current higher range of the LPG gas cylinder price.

Unlike the two options above, electricity is consumed for induction cooktops. The current (1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022) regulated electricity tariff rate charged by Singapore Power (SP) Group is 29.90 cents/kWh (with GST).

To calculate the cost of cooking using an induction cooker, we will use a power consumption calculator. This would give us a better reflection on the cost of using an induction cooker, as it takes a shorter time to cook compared to using gas.

We will assume that the induction cooker has a maximum wattage of 2000 watts and that cooking is done for two hours each day of the month.

This would give us a cost of $36 for a month of usage.

Surprisingly, as it stands, the cheapest option among gas cylinders, piped gas, and induction cookers is the good old gas cylinder. By shopping for the cheapest retailer, you can get a lower price compared to using piped gas. Also, when comparing the gas cylinder to an induction cooker, you could cook for a whole family of 6 every day for over a month using one gas cylinder, which is why the former is more affordable.

That being said, using an induction cooker could also be considered if your household size is small and you do light cooking. It may even be more advantageous if you have locked in your Open Electricity Market (OEM) plan at a significantly lower rate than the current tariff rate.

Read Also: [2022 Edition] Complete Guide To Choosing The Best Open Electricity Market (OEM) Plan For Your Home

Listen to our podcast, where we have in-depth discussions on finance topics that matter to you.