4.07 – Managing the Load Requirement for eCooking
We are delighted to invite you to the 7th session of the talk series- Phase IV on Modern Energy Cooking titled “Managing the Load Requirement for eCooking”. This session would be conducted online on December 18th, 2025 and is being organised by the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme, UK, through its in-country partner Finovista and in association with GAMOS, East Africa.
The transition to electric cooking is a promising strategy for decarbonising the cooking sector in India. However, as India advances towards cleaner and modern kitchens powered by electricity, understanding the implications of eCooking at the household-level and distribution-level electrical loads is becoming increasingly vital. While eCooking offers clear benefits in terms of efficiency, safety, and reduced emissions, it introduces a new dimension of electricity demand that households, utilities, and policymakers must prepare for. Electric cooking appliances such as induction cooktops, rice cookers, and electric pressure cookers typically draw higher instantaneous power, which can affect peak demand, voltage stability, and transformer loading, especially in areas with existing grid constraints. Many homes, particularly in rural and semi-urban regions, have wiring, sanctioned loads, and internal electrical infrastructure that may not be fully prepared to handle sustained cooking loads. This creates a critical intersection between energy access, appliance adoption, and grid readiness.
At the household level, variability in cooking times and practices can lead to concentrated load spikes, often aligning with morning and evening peaks. These cooking demand peaks typically occur outside solar hours, especially early morning and late evening, thereby increasing reliance on costlier non-solar power and adding further network and system costs. Without appropriate load diversification, efficient appliances, or behavioural shifts, this trend risks intensifying stress on local feeders and distribution transformers. The situation is even more challenging in rural areas, where lower reliability, poor cost recovery, and a low Average Billing Rate (ABR) make large-scale eCooking adoption more complex from a DISCOM perspective. Power supplied during non-solar hours is also more expensive due to dependence on older coal plants, while meeting peak loads requires additional investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure, including transformer upgrades. Compounding these pressures, growing air-conditioner (AC) usage is already straining DISCOMs, contributing to high nighttime peaks. On the supply side, therefore, utilities must anticipate the cumulative impact of widespread eCooking adoption as part of India’s broader clean energy transition. While doing so, the possibility of a larger number of EVs that require charging from the same grid in the coming years has to be kept in mind. Thus, integrating eCooking into demand forecasting, distribution planning, and load management strategies becomes essential for ensuring long-term system reliability and affordability.
Emerging solutions provide promising pathways. Time-of-day tariffs, smart meters, demand-side management interventions, and consumer education can help manage peak loads. At the same time, improving appliance efficiency and expanding the Standards & Labelling Programme to include eCooking devices can be helpful in reducing the overall power required for cooking. Integrating rooftop solar and household or community-level storage offers additional resilience, enabling households to meet part of their cooking load sustainably while reducing pressure on the grid. Lessons from state-level pilots, global programmes, and localised case studies can further guide a cohesive approach to building an eCooking-ready electricity ecosystem.
Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) is a 13-year research programme funded by UK Aid (FCDO). We are a geographically diverse, multicultural and transdisciplinary team working in close partnership with NGOs, governments, the private sector, academia and research institutes, policy representatives, and communities in 16 countries of interest to accelerate the transition from biomass to genuinely ‘clean’ cooking.