State, LSEs: There’s No Place Like an All-Electric Home for the Holidays

By Linda Dailey Paulson in California Energy Markets

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There’s no place like home for the holidays—where you can cozy up on the couch with a hot cocoa while awaiting dinner, whether it be home-cooked or takeout. Hopefully, this doesn’t involve the electricity meters spinning wildly throughout the long weekend.

The state’s load-serving entities—including community choice aggregators and investor-owned utilities—have programs in place demonstrating how to make this all possible in all-electric, energy-efficient consumer or commercial settings.

The utilities and state agencies note that the use of electric appliances produces less greenhouse gas emissions, particularly if the electricity is from a low- or zero-carbon source. Moving to electric is also key to helping California meet its clean-energy and carbon-neutrality goals, they say.

“As the electric grid continues to decarbonize, electrification will become increasingly critical to decarbonize,” California Energy Commission spokesperson Michael Ward told California Energy Markets via email. “Full building decarbonization avoids the cost of installation and maintenance of the gas infrastructure and the long term cost of using gas for cooking, or gas only cooking, may be increasingly expensive as the economy of scale for natural gas demand is reduced.”

Southern California Edison in its Pathway 2045 analysis identified electrifying buildings as “critical” to meeting California’s GHG emissions-reduction targets, utility spokesperson Julia Roether said.

“A preliminary update of that analysis to reflect new laws and regulations enacted since 2019 indicates we will need to electrify nine out of 10 buildings by 2045,” she said. “Regulators and environmental groups, including the California Energy Commission, Sierra Club, and [Natural Resources Defense Council], all confirm that we are not going to meet California’s ambitious greenhouse gas emissions goals without electrifying a substantial number of buildings.”

SCE estimates building electrification is able to reduce a single-family home’s total GHG emissions by 30 to 60 percent compared with natural gas.

“As electricity gets cleaner, these reductions are estimated to increase to almost 90% by 2050. This is the only approach to home decarbonization that has demonstrated such significant reductions,” Roether said.

One of the quickest pathways to decarbonization seems to be through the kitchen.

Beckie Menten, program manager for building electrification and energy efficiency with East Bay Community Energy, said this is because “cooking is the only gas-based fuel in a customer’s home where they have a visceral connection to the fuel type—if your water heater is delivering hot water, and your space is comfortable, you don’t really care what fuel is being used to provide that service. With cooking, you can see the flame and people have come to associate that with quality and luxury.”

But induction stoves heat food faster and are more efficient than natural gas cooktops, experts say. They also cause less indoor air pollution.

“The connection between gas cooking and indoor air quality impacts is beginning to be more well understood,” Menten said, “so this is a chance to support our customers—many of whom are already impacted by air quality by virtue of living close to freeways or point source pollution emitters.”

Many people are unfamiliar with these types of electric appliances “and thus are hesitant to install them,” Ward said. “It is an ongoing effort to educate about these technologies to support wider decarbonization goals.”

Many of the state’s LSEs have wide-ranging programs designed to educate consumers and professionals about the benefits of induction cooking. These include appliance-lending and rebate programs.

EBCE has a free induction cooktop loaner program for residents in its service area—Alameda County and the City of Tracy. “Our theory is that demystifying a technology that is unfamiliar to many will help to overcome the perception that it is inferior to gas cooking,” Menten said. “In addition, we provide several virtual and hands-on workshops and demonstrations, mostly administered by our partner on this program, Acterra.”

Meanwhile, San Jose Clean Energy enlisted the talents of local social media influencers for its “The Switch Is On” campaign. One video features using an induction burner for sterilizing plant growth media when propagating houseplants. Cooking videos are offered in both Spanish and English.

Sonoma Clean Power supports its customers’ move to induction stove use through special events, such as the North Coast Wine & Food Festival and programs sponsored by the University of California’s Master Food Preservers. SCP also hosts workshops and events for consumers and professional chefs in both Spanish and English.

The CCA also has an induction-cooktop and compatible cookware lending program, as well as incentives and financing.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District said its mix of programs, some of which launched in 2019, include rebates and custom retrofits. These have been funded solely by the utility, SMUD spokesperson Gamaliel Ortiz said; however, it is also applying for state and federal grants to expand its programs.

“The challenge is getting this message out to customers,” Ortiz said. “Seeing is believing, so it will be important to offer classes where customers can view induction cooking in action.”

There are many different organizations conducting induction cooking workshops and programs, including the Building Decarbonization Coalition, Frontier Energy and BayREN.

The CEC, through its workshops and seminars, shares information with the public about these technologies, Ward said. Many of these are Electric Program Investment Charge-funded programs and projects.

Another key to decarbonization is moving to all-electric, energy-efficient homes. Roether said SCE has several pilot programs underway.

The San Joaquin Valley Affordable Energy Pilot provides energy-efficient electric appliances, minor home repairs and electrical upgrades to customers in three rural communities. Roether said these consumers often use propane and wood as fuel. The program is designed to reduce energy costs for consumers and provide them with affordable energy.

SCE’s KB Home Connected Community microgrid project is a collaboration between the homebuilder and solar-energy service provider SunPower. The project includes 200 all-electric homes in Menifee with heat-pump HVAC systems and water heaters, electric dryers, and induction cooktops.

The CEC has several projects in the works, including building three prototype, all-electric manufactured homes with GTI and Dvele. The agency is also working with the Electric Power Research Institute on a full electrification retrofit for multifamily buildings in Fresno.

Other organizations in the state are seeking to launch new programs in 2023, and say they are eager to build on existing creative approaches to promoting building electrification.