How Electric Cooking Can Help Indian Families Transition to Cleaner Fuels

E-cooking combined with rooftop solar could be a quick and healthy way to transition people to clean cooking, but upfront costs on gadgets and suitable utensils, perceptions of increase in running costs, fewer options for multi-pot cooking–standard in the Indian context–and apprehensions about the taste of food cooked on e-stoves are affecting the pace of adoption, studies have shown.

Further, while electric cooking is slowly gaining popularity, especially in urban areas, there is still a lack of awareness about its benefits. For example, e-cooking needs specialised utensils that would work on the induction stove, which may not be as easily available in rural areas. Also, a single-pot cooking option may not be suitable for large families. Two-pot induction stoves are more expensive. People also perceive the recurring cost of induction to be higher as it may add to the electricity bill. 

Induction cookstoves and rice cookers are the most popular devices, each used by nearly 40% of the e-cooking users, followed by microwave ovens, the IRES found. Choice of e-cooking devices varies across states, with rice cookers dominating in Andhra Pradesh, induction plates in Tamil Nadu and microwave ovens in Delhi. In Assam, low-income households use electric coil-based cookstoves, whereas wealthier households use microwave ovens or rice cookers.