What does a induction cooktop cost to run?

Induction cooktops are the efficient way to cook on electricity. By inducing heat directly in the pot instead of heating an element and then the pan, they put around 85-90% of their energy into the food. That compares with maybe 70% for old radiant elements and far less for gas, where much of the heat rolls up the sides of the pot and into the room.

They are fast too. Boiling water on induction beats a kettle for large volumes, because almost all the energy goes straight into the water rather than warming a coil first. For a big pot of pasta water, the cooktop is genuinely quicker as well as more efficient.

Because cooking is intermittent and efficient, a cooktop is rarely a big slice of the annual bill, so this is about comfort and speed as much as cost. You use it in short bursts, and each burst puts most of its energy to work, which keeps the running total modest.

A few things are worth knowing. You need ferrous, magnetic cookware, because the induction field only works with pots a magnet will stick to, so some older aluminium or copper pans will not heat at all. It is the one real catch of switching to induction.

The electronics draw a trickle of standby power, and the high peak draw is brief, so the scary-looking wattage on the label only appears for the moment you are actually boiling something hard. Averaged over a meal it is far lower than that peak implies.

For most homes the cooktop is a minor cost, and the efficiency edge over radiant elements and gas is more about faster cooking and a cooler kitchen than about saving big money. It is a nice-to-have rather than a bill-mover, and no one should switch to induction expecting the power bill to fall much on its own.

The kitchen money is really in the oven and, surprisingly often, the kettle's daily use. If you are hunting for savings in the kitchen, it is worth putting your real cooktop hours into the calculator and then comparing that number against those two. Most people are surprised how far down the list the cooktop sits.