Getting Off Gas in the Northern Rivers: Induction Cooktop Switchboard Checker, Costs, Steps and Running It on Solar

Checked and updated by our licensed electricians: October 2026

Most of the Northern Rivers has never had mains gas, so “getting off gas” here usually means sending the LPG bottles back: an induction cooktop in place of the gas hob, a heat pump for hot water, reverse-cycle for the cold weeks, and solar with a battery to run it all. The cooktop is the step that trips people up, because the electrical work, not the appliance, decides the cost: a new 32 A circuit, sometimes a switchboard upgrade, occasionally a main supply check. This guide, written by local licensed electricians, covers the health and safety case for leaving gas, how induction works and what circuit it needs, what your switchboard and main supply have to be able to do, who may disconnect the gas, the hot water and heating steps, how solar and a battery carry the new load, and the rebates and finance as they stand in October 2026. The checker at the top gives you a first answer about your own switchboard in six taps, with nothing to fill in.

On this page: The checker: can my switchboard handle an induction cooktop? · Why Northern Rivers homes are getting off gas · Induction basics: pans, power and circuits · Switchboard and main supply: what has to be true · What a switchboard or RCBO upgrade involves · Disconnecting the gas: bottles and mains · Hot water: the heat pump · Heating and cooling: reverse-cycle · How solar and a battery carry the new load · Rebates and finance in October 2026 · Northern Rivers notes: LPG country, with one mains-gas corner · The order to do it in · Questions we get asked

Can my switchboard handle an induction cooktop? Checker

Seven quick taps: the age of the house, what is in the board (fuses, breakers, safety switches), single or three phase, the main switch rating if it shows one, what you cook on now, your other big loads and your solar. The result shows on screen straight away; sending it to your phone and the free switchboard photo check are optional.

Why Northern Rivers homes are getting off gas

Cost, framed honestly. Gas has two prices: the fuel and the standing cost of having it. Bottled LPG carries a cylinder rental or service fee and delivery; a mains connection in Tweed Heads carries a daily supply charge whether you use it or not. Once the last gas appliance is gone, that standing cost disappears entirely, which is the one saving every household gets regardless of tariff. On the fuel side, induction puts about 85 per cent of its energy into the pan against about 32 per cent for a gas flame (CHOICE), a heat pump makes three to four units of hot water heat per unit of electricity, and reverse-cycle air conditioning does the same for warmth. We do not quote dollar savings: they depend on your gas use, your electricity plan and whether solar is doing the work. SolarQuotes’ own 2025 estimate for a two-to-three-person Sydney household leaving gas entirely was several hundred dollars a year, with stated assumptions; your bills tell your version.

Health and indoor air. A gas flame indoors releases nitrogen dioxide and fine particles. A 2013 review of 41 studies found children in homes with gas cooking had a 42 per cent higher risk of current asthma, and the Climate Council’s 2021 report estimated gas cooking accounts for up to 12 per cent of childhood asthma in Australia (a modelled estimate). Range hoods and open windows lower the exposure but do not remove it. Unflued gas heaters are the worst offenders. Induction and reverse-cycle produce nothing in the room.

Safety. No open flame, no gas leak, no carbon monoxide, no bottle changeovers in the rain. Induction cooktops only heat when a pan is on the zone, switch off when it is lifted, and the glass stays much cooler than a gas trivet. For a house with children, renters or an older relative, that matters as much as the bill.

Bushfire and storm resilience. An all-electric home with solar and a battery keeps cooking, hot water and lights going through an outage; a gas bottle keeps the cooktop going but nothing else. After ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in 2025 that is a live question across the region.

Induction basics: pans, power and circuits

How it works. A coil under the glass makes a magnetic field; a pan with an iron base sits in that field and heats itself. The glass is only warmed by the pan. That is why it is fast (CHOICE’s top model boiled a litre in two minutes 19 seconds against four minutes or more on gas), precise at low heat, easy to wipe, and why the pan matters.

Pans. Cast iron, steel, enamelled steel and magnetic stainless steel work; aluminium, copper, glass and ceramic do not unless they have a bonded magnetic base. The test is a fridge magnet on the base: if it grips firmly, the pan works. Match pan diameter to the zone, and use a flat-bottomed induction wok (there is no wok burner). Thin cheap non-stick pans can warp on boost.

Power. A full-size 60 or 90 cm cooktop has a connected load of about 7 kW with every zone on boost, which is why most of them want a dedicated 32 A circuit, hard-wired, with an isolating switch within reach. Low-current models under about 5 kW (Bosch’s 4.6 kW Series 4 units, Fisher and Paykel’s 20 A low-current range, Chef PowerReady) run on a 20 A circuit at the cost of not running every zone flat out together, and some full-size units have a power-management setting that limits them to a smaller circuit. A portable single-zone unit plugs into a normal 10 A power point and is a good way to try induction before you commit. The installation manual for the exact model is the final word.

Single or three phase. A standard induction cooktop runs on a single 32 A single-phase circuit; three phase is never required for the cooktop itself. It becomes relevant only when the whole house is near the limit of a single-phase supply (next section). Background: single phase vs three phase for solar and batteries.

Living with it. Expect a short learning curve (the zones are strong), a faint hum from some pans on boost, touch controls that dislike greasy fingers, and sugary spills that need a glass cream. People who have cooked on both rarely go back.

Switchboard and main supply: what has to be true

Three things decide whether a cooktop is a two-hour job or a day.

Is there a cooking circuit, and how big is it? A house that has always cooked on gas has no cooking circuit, so a new 32 A run goes from the board to the kitchen. A house with an electric oven usually has a 15 or 20 A oven circuit, not enough to add a full-size cooktop. A house with an old ceramic or coil electric cooktop may already have a 32 A circuit the induction unit can use; the electrician reads the cable size at the board.
Can the board take a protected new circuit? Current wiring rules require safety-switch (RCD) protection on new and altered circuits. A modern board with a spare way takes a new RCBO (breaker and safety switch in one) in minutes. A board of rewireable ceramic fuses cannot take one at all, so the board is replaced first. In between sit boards with breakers and one or two shared safety switches, where the new circuit gets its own RCBO and the electrician may recommend bringing the rest of the board up to standard while the cover is off.
Does the main supply have room? Most Northern Rivers homes have a single-phase supply of about 63 A. The wiring rules let the electrician count cooking as a diverse load (nobody runs every zone flat out all evening), so a cooktop alone almost never tips a normal house over. What does is a stack of big loads: ducted air conditioning, an EV charger, an electric storage hot water element, a pool pump and heater, a spa. Then the electrician calculates the maximum demand and, in order of cost, shifts loads into the solar window on timers, fits load management (an EV charger that backs off when the house is busy), applies to Essential Energy for a larger service, or adds a second or third phase. A supply upgrade is network work and can be expensive, so it is the last resort, not the first.

Our own electricians check all three on the site visit we do before every solar and battery install, and the switchboard work is in the quote up front so nothing is added on the day. More in switchboard upgrades and RCBOs.

What a switchboard or RCBO upgrade involves

A board upgrade replaces the old fuse carriers or breakers with a new enclosure (or a new chassis in the old meter box), a main switch, and an RCBO on every circuit, labelled. Add-ons that often come with it: a surge protector, a dedicated circuit for the induction cooktop, spare ways for the heat pump, the EV charger and the battery, and the consumer mains checked for size and condition. If the meter box itself is replaced, all the protection comes up to the current rules. The power is off for part of a day; the electrician lodges the certificate of compliance for the electrical work and, where the service is touched, the paperwork with Essential Energy.

Guide costs from CHOICE (March 2026): a new dedicated circuit and safety switch about $600 to $1,200; a full switchboard or mains upgrade about $3,000 to $9,000, depending on the board, the cable runs and whether the meter box is changed. We quote our own work after seeing the board; the figures are theirs, not ours.

We are a licensed NSW electrical contractor and our own electricians do this work. For most of our customers it is folded into the solar and battery install, because a battery needs the same RCBO protection and the same spare ways, so the board is done once.

Disconnecting the gas: bottles and mains

Who may do it. In NSW, disconnecting a gas appliance, a regulator or a cylinder from an installation is gasfitting work and needs a licensed gasfitter under the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2017; only swapping a cylinder or a pigtail is exempt. We are electricians, not gasfitters, and we do not touch gas. We work with a licensed local plumbing and gasfitting partner: if you ask us to, we pass your details to that partner so they can quote the disconnection (and the heat pump plumbing), and we may receive a referral fee for the introduction, which does not change the price you pay. If you would rather find your own gasfitter, that is fine too.

Bottled LPG (most of the region).

Replace or stop using the last gas appliance (cooktop, hot water, heater). Keep the bottles connected until the electric replacements are working.
A licensed gasfitter disconnects and caps the appliance lines, removes the regulator, makes the installation safe and issues the certificate of inspection the regulation requires for non-network gas work.
Call your LPG supplier (Elgas, Origin, Kleenheat, a local reseller) to close the account and collect the cylinders; ask them to stop the rental or service fee from that date and to confirm any credit for gas left in the bottles.
Keep the certificate with the house papers; it matters when you sell or rent.

Mains gas (Tweed Heads and Banora Point, Allgas network operated by APA).

Switch the appliances first, as above, and have the gasfitter cap the internal lines.
Ask your gas retailer for either a disconnection (the supply is stopped, usually at the meter, and can be reversed; the cheaper option) or an abolishment (the connection and meter are removed for good; dearer). Since 1 October 2026 the Australian Energy Market Commission requires distributors to offer abolishment as a standard service with a quote and a timeframe; retailers must explain both options from January 2027.
Fees are set per network and change: Sydney’s Jemena abolishment fee was reset to about $260 plus GST from July 2026 after years around $1,400, but the Allgas figure is its own, so get it from your retailer in writing before you choose. A connection left in place keeps charging the daily supply fee.
Close the account once the distributor confirms the work.

Related: the hot water heat pump guide covers the hot water side of the same job, where the heat pump partner model applies in the same way.

Hot water: the heat pump

Gas hot water is usually the biggest gas load in the house and the easiest to replace well. A hot water heat pump uses about a quarter to a third of the electricity of an old electric element, draws only 0.5 to 1 kW while heating, runs happily on a midday timer from your solar, and earns federal STCs plus a NSW discount when it replaces gas. Our hot water heat pump buyer’s guide and sizing calculator compares the brands sold in Australia on noise, refrigerant, warranty and climate rating and gives you a tank size for your household. The electrical side (dedicated circuit, isolator, timer or a link to the battery system) is ours; the water side is the plumber’s.

Heating and cooling: reverse-cycle

For the few cold weeks of a Northern Rivers winter, a reverse-cycle air conditioner is the efficient electric replacement for a gas heater: it moves three to five units of heat indoors for each unit of electricity, cools in summer, and releases nothing into the room. Unflued gas heaters, the type most often found in older rentals, are the single worst source of indoor nitrogen dioxide and should be the first gas appliance to go. We do not sell air conditioners; what we do is make sure the switchboard has the circuit for one and that the solar and battery are sized for it, because a large reverse-cycle unit on a winter evening is exactly the load a battery is there to carry.

How solar and a battery carry the new load

Going all-electric adds load, but less than people fear, and most of it is in the evening, which is what shapes the design.

Induction cooking: roughly 0.5 to 2 kWh a day for most households (CHOICE’s tested running costs come to about 115 to 200 kWh a year for light use; a family cooking nightly sits higher). Nearly all of it after sunset.
Heat pump hot water: about 2 to 5 kWh a day, and it can be timed to run at midday straight off the panels.
Reverse-cycle heating: small in our climate; a few kWh on the coldest evenings.

So an all-electric switch typically adds 3 to 8 kWh a day. At about 3.8 kWh per kW of panels on an average Northern Rivers day, that is roughly 1 to 2 kW more solar than the same house would otherwise need, and because cooking and evening heating happen after dark, a home battery is what turns the midday solar into the dinner you cook. In an outage a single-phase battery system supplies about 5 to 10 kW at once, so an induction cooktop on every zone (about 7 kW) is used one or two zones at a time, the same as the oven or the air conditioner.

Put your own numbers in: the solar and battery price calculator for a typical system after the rebate, the blackout battery runtime calculator for what a battery runs when the power is out, the heat pump sizing calculator for the hot water load, and the EV solar calculator if a car is coming. Background: how big a solar system do I need and the Northern Rivers home battery buyer’s guide.

Rebates and finance in October 2026

Induction cooktops: no federal rebate and no statewide NSW Energy Savings Scheme incentive. A few Sydney councils run small rebates (North Sydney 25 per cent up to $250 for a gas replacement by a licensed electrician; Lane Cove paused; Shellharbour for 2026-27); none of the Northern Rivers councils had one when we checked on 24 October 2026.
Hot water heat pump: federal STCs taken off the price by the installer, and the NSW Energy Savings Scheme hot water upgrade (indicatively up to about $330 when replacing gas, up to about $640 when replacing electric). Detail in the heat pump guide.
Battery and solar: the federal Cheaper Home Batteries rebate (factor 6.8 now, 5.7 from 1 January 2027, 5.2 from 1 July 2027, set by install date) and solar STCs, both built into our designs. See who qualifies and how the rebate is claimed.
NSW Home Energy Saver 0% loan: up to $15,000 over up to 10 years for eligible NSW homeowners with a combined taxable household income of $210,000 or less, through Brighte; rebates come off first, the loan covers the rest, and you pay the same price with us either way. It is built around solar and batteries; the official page says finance providers may not provide loans for all products, so the lender decides what else on a job it will finance. Eligibility criteria apply, subject to lender approval. How the NSW 0% loan works.
NSW Home Energy Saver discount: up to $4,000 off 13 upgrades, including induction cooktops, switchboard upgrades, heat pump hot water, reverse-cycle, EV chargers, solar and batteries, for households with an eligible concession card or a combined gross income of up to $80,000, with a minimum contribution. Announced but not yet open on 24 October 2026; the official page says applications are coming soon. We will update this line when it opens.

Northern Rivers notes: LPG country, with one mains-gas corner

Reticulated natural gas reaches Tweed Heads and Banora Point on the Allgas network (operated by APA), with a few small extensions nearby. Everywhere else in our service area, from Murwillumbah, Mullumbimby, Ocean Shores and Byron Bay down to Lennox Head, Ballina, Alstonville, Lismore, Coraki, Woodburn and Evans Head, has no mains gas; gas homes run on 45 kg bottles swapped by a supplier or a small tank. That changes the sums and the steps:

There is no abolishment fee to worry about for bottled gas; the cost of leaving is the gasfitter’s visit, and the gain is the end of rental, delivery and bottle-run anxiety.
Bottled LPG is dearer per unit of heat than mains gas, so the running-cost case for induction and a heat pump is stronger here than in Sydney.
Many hinterland homes are older, with ceramic fuse boards and a long cable run from the meter box to the kitchen: budget for the switchboard first.
Coastal homes (Byron Bay, Lennox Head, Kingscliff, Pottsville, Brunswick Heads, Evans Head) should read our coastal notes before choosing where the battery and the heat pump go.
In Tweed Heads and Banora Point, ask the retailer for the disconnection and abolishment figures in writing before the gasfitter comes, and time the two together.

The order to do it in

Photograph the switchboard (door open) and send it to us, or use the checker above. That tells you whether the cooktop is a circuit or a board upgrade.
Choose the cooktop before anyone quotes the electrical work: full-size 32 A, low-current 20 A, or a model with power management. Try a portable single-zone unit first if you are unsure about induction.
Plan the whole all-electric load at once: cooktop, heat pump hot water, reverse-cycle, EV charger if one is coming, and the battery. One board upgrade, one set of spare ways, one solar design.
Do the electrical work: board upgrade if needed, the cooktop circuit, the heat pump circuit and timer, the battery and solar (us).
Swap the appliances (cooktop installer, plumber for the heat pump) while the gas is still connected, so there is no week without hot water.
Disconnect the gas with a licensed gasfitter, return the bottles or request the disconnection or abolishment, close the account, keep the certificate.

Planning an all-electric new build rather than converting? Our BASIX, solar and battery guide for new homes covers the certificate, the circuits to pre-install and the phase decision.

The heating and cooling side of an all-electric home is covered in our air conditioning on solar and a battery guide, including pre-cooling on solar.

Want to know what this means for your home?

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Questions we get asked

Can my switchboard handle an induction cooktop?

Three things decide it: whether a cooking circuit already exists and how big its cable is, whether your board can take a new circuit with safety-switch protection, and whether your main supply has room for the extra load. A modern board with a spare way usually needs only a new dedicated circuit (32 A for most full-size cooktops). A board with ceramic rewireable fuses nearly always needs replacing first, because a new circuit must have safety-switch protection and fuse boards cannot take one. The checker on this page gives you a first answer from six taps; a licensed electrician confirms it on site.

What size circuit does an induction cooktop need?

Most full-size 60 and 90 cm induction cooktops want a dedicated 32 A single-phase circuit, because their connected load is around 7 kW with every zone on boost. Low-current models (under about 5 kW, such as the Bosch 4.6 kW units or Fisher and Paykel and Chef 20 A models) run on a 20 A circuit, and some full-size units have a power-management setting that limits them to a smaller circuit. The installation manual for the exact model decides, and CHOICE says every built-in induction cooktop should be hard-wired by a licensed electrician.

Do I need three-phase power for an induction cooktop?

No. A single 32 A single-phase circuit runs a standard induction cooktop. Three phase only comes into it when the whole house is near its single-phase limit: a 63 A single-phase supply shared between a ducted air conditioner, an EV charger, an electric hot water element, a pool and now a cooktop can run short. In that case the electrician calculates the maximum demand and either moves loads around, fits load management (for example on the EV charger) or applies to Essential Energy for a bigger service or a second or third phase.

Why does an old switchboard need upgrading before a new circuit?

Current wiring rules require safety-switch (RCD) protection on new and altered circuits, and a board of rewireable ceramic fuses cannot take one, so the board is replaced with circuit breakers and RCBOs (a breaker and safety switch in one for each circuit). It also removes the fire risk of worn fuse holders and gives you space for the circuits an all-electric home adds: cooktop, heat pump, EV charger, battery. We do this work: licensed NSW electrical contractor, our own electricians.

Is there mains gas in the Northern Rivers?

Only in Tweed Heads and Banora Point, on the Allgas network operated by APA, with a few small extensions nearby. Everywhere else in the Northern Rivers, from Murwillumbah and Byron Bay to Ballina, Lismore and Evans Head, there is no reticulated natural gas: homes that cook or heat with gas use 45 kg LPG bottles or a small tank. Getting off gas there means ending the bottle rental and delivery and having a licensed gasfitter disconnect and cap the appliances, not dealing with a network.

Who is allowed to disconnect my gas appliances?

In NSW, disconnecting a gas appliance, regulator or cylinder from an installation is gasfitting work and needs a licensed gasfitter under the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2017 (swapping a cylinder or a pigtail is the exception). For bottled LPG the gasfitter caps the lines, removes the regulator and issues a certificate of inspection; your supplier collects the bottles and closes the account. For mains gas in Tweed Heads you also ask your retailer for a disconnection or an abolishment through the distributor. We are electricians and do not do gasfitting; we work with a licensed local plumbing and gasfitting partner.

What is the difference between gas disconnection and abolishment?

Disconnection stops the supply, usually at the meter, and can be reversed; it is the cheaper option. Abolishment removes the connection permanently and costs more. From 1 October 2026 the Australian Energy Market Commission requires every east-coast gas distributor to offer abolishment as a standard service with quotes and timeframes (retailers from January 2027). Fees are set per network: Sydney’s Jemena fee was reset to about $260 plus GST from July 2026; ask your retailer for the Allgas figure in Tweed Heads. A connection left in place keeps charging a daily supply fee.

Does induction cooking really use much power?

Not much. CHOICE’s running-cost figures for tested induction cooktops come to roughly 115 to 200 kWh a year for half an hour three times a week, and a family cooking every day sits higher, say 0.5 to 2 kWh a day. Induction puts about 85 per cent of its energy into the pan against about 32 per cent for a gas flame, so the kitchen stays cooler and water boils in about half the time. That cooking happens mostly in the evening, which is why a home battery, not just solar, pairs so well with it.

Are there rebates for switching to induction in NSW?

There is no federal rebate and no statewide NSW Energy Savings Scheme incentive for induction cooktops as at October 2026. The NSW Home Energy Saver 0% loan of up to $15,000 over up to 10 years is for energy-saving upgrades for households with combined taxable income of $210,000 or less; it is built around solar and batteries, and the lender decides what else it will finance. The NSW Home Energy Saver discount of up to $4,000 for concession-card and lower-income households lists induction cooktops and switchboard upgrades among its 13 upgrades but was not yet open on 24 October 2026. A few Sydney councils run small induction rebates; none of the Northern Rivers councils did when we checked.

Will my battery run an induction cooktop in a blackout?

Yes, with a little care. A single-phase home battery system supplies roughly 5 to 10 kW at once, and a full-size induction cooktop with every zone on boost can draw about 7 kW, so in an outage you cook on one or two zones at a time, as you would with the oven or the air conditioner. Our installs back up the whole home by default and we check the big loads on the site visit.

Sources

SolarQuotes: “Quitting gas is about to get a lot less confusing” (8 April 2026), “How getting off gas will save you money” (April 2025), “Quitting gas costs: a small step for the ACT, a giant leap for NSW”, “Gas connections are about to get a whole lot more expensive” and reader reports of induction installs; CHOICE: “Switching from gas to induction” (30 March 2026), the induction cooktop buying guide, “Is induction cooking right for you?” and “Are gas appliances for cooking and heating bad for your health?”; Climate Council, “Kicking the gas habit” (2021) via Asthma Australia; Ewald, Crisp and Carey, Australian Journal of General Practice (December 2022); NSW Fair Trading gasfitting licence and compliance pages (Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2017); Australian Energy Market Commission gas abolishment rule change; APA Group Allgas network description; Elgas Northern Rivers delivery pages; Fisher and Paykel, Chef and Bosch Australia product specifications; AS/NZS 3000:2018 as applied by licensed electricians; Endeavour Energy connection pages (equivalent Essential Energy process); NSW Climate and Energy Action Home Energy Saver loans and discounts pages (both updated 19 October 2026); North Sydney, Lane Cove and Shellharbour council rebate pages. Full list with dates in our research note. Checked October 2026.