US Homes Face Costly Retrofits for Induction Stoves, EV Chargers | New homes in the US may not be “electrical ready” after an international standards agency excluded building electrification measures
New homes in the US may not be “electrical ready” after an international standards agency excluded building electrification measures from its latest energy code.
So if you have a gas stove, you might not have enough electric for an electric oven wired to your kitchen. Nothing new here. But for new construction, should you have to pay for that wiring if you're putting in gas?
100% yes. There's no future for natural gas long-term, so any home being built without support for electrified kitchen appliances is doing a disservice to the consumer. It's only a matter of time before the fossil gas death spiral starts and causes those prices to absolutely blow up. And frankly, given that electrical versions of modern appliances are universally better than their natural gas counterparts both in performance and lifecycle cost with perhaps with the exception of tankless water heaters or for people living in the near arctic, you're screwing over the average consumer by failing to do the electric right when it's relatively cheap to do it right during construction.
Even today in the still-relatively-early-days, electrification will save money for most homeowners. Building a new home that cannot be electrified just because the natural gas lobby wanted it that way is stupid. We have lots of building codes that are meant to keep houses future proof and that's what this is.
If you aren't forced to allow for future upgrades now you'll want government funding to switch in ten years when the gas gets cut off. People have short memories about this sort of thing.
Code requires you install all kinds of outlets you may have no plan on using. Every 4' on the walls, last I checked, just because a house without proper electrical supply is unusable.
You're only whining about this oven outlet, though, so methinks you are not being entirely honest about your outrage.