LPG bottled v electricity for cooking

[periwinkle]

No gas where I am and trying to avoid the upfront costs/storage issues of alternatives to electricity. Someone suggested cooking on LPG bottled gas. Does anyone know if running costs would be cheaper than electric?
Cheers

[Mo]

I use LPG. Can't remember if there was a charge for installing the tank, maybe not as it belongs to Calor, and they maintain it.
I prefer gas, and it does give another source of warmth - the electric lines are overhead, so more liable to powercuts in bad weather. What I didn't realise when I bought the cooker was that since there is the option to programme the cooker to turn on and off while I'm out (never use it, though I do use the pinger) if there is a power cut the oven goes off! GRRRR

[p.penn]

Not sure if it's cheaper, but I have a friend who uses lpg, and he says his cylinder lasts a while (and he cooks a lot). My only experience of it was camping, and I thought it ran out too quickly. That wasn't helpful, sorry!

[Spreckly]

Before we had mains gas in our village many moons ago, we only had electricity and open fires. Eventually we bought a calor gas cooker, which was much cheaper to run, this was followed by a gas fire, and then full central heating. Just before I left, mains gas was brought into the village, but we would have stuck with the calor. We always had four of the largest bottles at a time, in case a delivery could not be made, and were planning to have a tank installed until we heard that the village was going to be supplied.

I had no issues with the lpg, and we still use in in the caravans, of course.

There is no gas where we now live, just electric and open fires, so we have gone full circle!

[periwinkle]

Thanks folks. It seems I might as well go for it.
Plus it means I am not purely reliant on elecricity. Aside from the multifuel stove, I am currently all electric which is not good news in this part of Cumbria (even without the storms). On that note, apparently I have to make sure I don't get a model which only functions with electric ignition.

[Freeranger]

Hi Periinkle - I hope you are warm, dry and fully illuminated! We are in Scottish Borders so got a hefty dose of Desmond as well - we're fine though. Some elderly neighbours warned us when we moved here that we should have a mix if possible to not be reliant on electricity, and many of our neighbours have camping hobs just in case, unless they have solid fuel Rayburns. They said it was a practical thing rather than price - we haven't costed the different alternatives but see what they mean after a couple of hostile winters. Our heating, hot water & cooking all require ignition or pumps, but we have an open fire so can still cook or heat water. scavenging for wood is quite cheap, and coal works out quite favourably if a little un-green. I don't know if this is much help either - not the answer to your question, but maybe I've added some more questions!

[periwinkle]

Thank you. All experiences are helpful. I have two ancient storage heaters and am on Economy 7. Which means I run round like an idiot doing washing up etc either late night or early morning to avoid the hiked daytime rates The heaters need upgrading if I am keeping Economy 7 - which I might well not.
Thoughts with those in Scotland etc who are also suffering with the floods. You must get sick of the news barely mentioning anywhere but Cumbria! The riverside properties in this village did flood and the village green became a raging torrent but main impact for me is getting work done on the house. It is difficult enough getting tradespeople here at the best of times. But now they are all running round doing property repairs and even booked work is delayed due to transport problems

[Freeranger]

Thanks, PW, but really we were OK - it's been very blowy and my journey to work was diverted. We're also high up and close to the source of the main rivers so all our rain went downstream - the lower towns have been badly affected (again), but a bit more localised than where you are. I suppose it's going to be difficult to get trades in until all the flood damage is dealt with as well. Sympathies - hope you get everything done OK.