What Does It Cost to Cook? Comparing LPG, Induction and the Rice Cooker

The cheapest-looking fuel is not necessarily the cheapest way to cook a particular meal. A cylinder price, an electricity rate and an appliance’s wattage describe different things. To compare them, measure the energy actually used to produce the same amount of food at a comparable endpoint. Otherwise, the calculation may reward an appliance for doing less work rather than doing the work more economically.

This is an operating-cost framework, not a quotation of current Philippine LPG prices or electricity tariffs. The numerical examples use invented rates so that the arithmetic remains transparent. Replace them with the actual delivered fuel price, applicable electricity rate and measurements from the kitchen being evaluated.

Compare one meal with the same meal

Define the task before testing: for example, the same weight of rice, the same starting water and the same acceptable finished texture. Include the period for which the food must be held, and distinguish that from cooking. Comparing a full LPG cooking-and-holding cycle with only the boiling stage on induction would not be fair.

Meralco’s kitchen guidance reports laboratory comparisons and practical efficiency advice. Those results show why energy transfer matters, but an individual household’s costs still depend on equipment, use and price. A laboratory efficiency percentage should not be converted directly into a guaranteed percentage reduction in every bill. Source 1

Use the same pan where appropriate and compatible, or document why cookware differs. Record lids, batch size and the starting condition of ingredients. If one test begins with room-temperature water and another with chilled ingredients, the difference needs to be explained rather than attributed entirely to the heat source.

Wattage is a rate, not a finished cost

A label stating 1,800 watts indicates power, not the energy consumed by every meal. An appliance may cycle or use a reduced setting. Energy in kilowatt-hours is power in kilowatts multiplied by time in hours when that power is sustained. Actual metered energy is preferable where a suitable, safely rated measuring arrangement is available; never improvise electrical measurement on a high-load cooker.

Meralco’s consumption guidance likewise connects appliance use with operating duration and applicable rates. A whole-house bill also includes consumption unrelated to the meal. Do not divide the entire monthly bill by the number of dinners and call the result the cooker’s efficiency. Source 2

For LPG, a cylinder’s delivered price divided by its stated net gas content gives a purchase cost per kilogram of gas. It does not establish how much of that gas a particular pot will use. Measurement has to be safe and appropriate; do not disconnect, move or modify a connected cylinder to improvise a trial. Use reliable consumption information or a professionally suitable measurement arrangement.

An illustrative batch comparison

Assume an electrical method uses 0.60 kWh to complete a batch and electricity is priced at ₱12/kWh. Its cooking-energy cost is ₱7.20. Assume an LPG method completes the comparable batch using 0.08 kg of gas at ₱100/kg. Its fuel cost is ₱8.00. The difference is ₱0.80 per batch under those assumptions, not a universal ranking of induction and LPG.

The break-even electricity rate for the assumed batch is ₱8 divided by 0.60 kWh, or about ₱13.33/kWh. The break-even LPG price is ₱7.20 divided by 0.08 kg, or ₱90/kg. Those thresholds help interpret a price change. They do not remove the need to measure or support the consumption assumptions first.

Keeping warm can change the answer

A rice cooker can spend much longer keeping food warm than it spends cooking. That does not mean the holding mode uses the same power as the cooking mode, but it does mean the time belongs in a comparison where holding is part of the household routine. Record the actual mode and duration rather than multiplying the maximum label wattage by the entire day.

Do not save energy by leaving cooked food lukewarm for hours. Compare methods that maintain safe hot holding or permit prompt cooling and refrigeration. Source 3

Batch size matters too. One large pot may use less energy per serving than repeated small pots, but only if the food is needed, stored safely and actually eaten. Extra leftovers that are discarded can erase a modest cooking-energy saving when the ingredient and preparation costs are included.

Purchase cost and operating cost answer different questions

Suppose changing equipment costs ₱3,000 and saves the hypothetical ₱0.80 per comparable batch. Simple energy-only payback would require 3,750 batches. At two comparable batches a day, that is 1,875 days, before maintenance, financing, other uses or changes in prices. The example shows why a small per-meal saving should not be advertised as a rapid investment return.

A household may still prefer the new equipment for control, convenience, reduced heat around the cook or other reasons. Those benefits can be real without being disguised as a shorter arithmetic payback. Separate what was measured from what the household values, and include suitable cookware or electrical work where required rather than treating the appliance price as the entire purchase cost.

Shifting demand is not always buying cheaper energy

The Philippine Department of Energy’s 2025 efficiency advice also addressed managing demand during periods of high use. Moving an activity can help the system, but a household on a flat applicable rate does not automatically pay less for the same kWh simply because it cooked at a different hour. Check the tariff before calling a timing change a bill-saving measure. Source 4

The strongest small-kitchen comparison is therefore a short log: task, portions, equipment, starting conditions, energy used, holding period and unit price. Repeat enough comparable batches to avoid declaring a winner from an unusual single meal. Use the result to make a decision for that kitchen, not to claim that one fuel is always cheapest throughout an archipelago.

A useful cooking-cost calculation ends with the cost of food actually served safely. Everything else—headline cylinder price, maximum wattage, laboratory efficiency and promotional savings—belongs upstream as information to be interpreted, not as the final answer.