Imagine a new home with no gas lines, no fossil fuels, just clean electricity powering everything: your heating, your air conditioning, your stovetop, and all the appliances throughout the home.
Welcome to the all-electric home: a growing trend in new home construction as homebuyers and homebuilders alike rethink energy use, prioritize sustainability, and drive cost savings for homeowners.
Here’s everything you need to know about all-electric homes – from how much cheaper they are to run, where they’re most popular, and how to work with your builder to prepare for an all-electric future.
1. What is an all-electric home?
For starters, an all-electric home runs entirely on electricity. That’s right – there’s no natural gas or propane for heating, cooking, or hot water. Instead, the home is fitted with modern, high-efficiency systems like:
Heat pumps for heating and cooling instead of traditional gas furnaces
Induction cooktops for fast, responsive cooking
Electric water heaters, often heat pump–based
Electric clothes dryers and other appliances throughout the home, including fireplaces
Lighting focused on energy-efficient LED lights
When paired with solar panels and home batteries, an all-electric home can dramatically reduce your utility bills – and, in some cases, eliminate them altogether.
2. All-electric homes are cheaper to run.
Between volatile gas prices and a steady innovation pipeline improving all-electric appliances and solar power infrastructure, homeowners will cost-savings by switching to electric.
How much homeowners can save on their bills depends on where they live.
Rocky Mountain Institute analysts did the math in various regions:
$359 in annual savings for homeowners in Austin in an all-electric home compared to a mixed-fuel one
$517 in annual savings for homeowners in Columbus
$389 in annual savings for homeowners in Eugene
If you use solar panels and geothermal heating, your cost savings may be even higher.
You’d also see lower water bills by using Energy Star dishwashers and washing machines. A standard-size Energy Star dishwasher costs about $50 per year to run and can save you about 5,800 gallons of water over its lifetime.
There is the massive reduction in the home’s carbon footprint, too: researchers say Austin homeowners would save 20 tons in CO2 emissions over a 15-year period. In Columbus, the disparity is 40 tons – that’s the equivalent of roughly 100 round-trip flights from New York to London.
3. Is there an upfront cost to going all-electric?
If you’re retrofitting an existing home: Yes. And it’s to the tune of somewhere between $3,832 and $15,100, according to National Association of Home Builders data.
It’s a wide-ranging estimate because costs depend on your location, chosen systems, and whether you add solar and battery storage, which drives up costs. Geography – and climate – played a big part in their estimates.
Most affordable cities to go all-electric:
Baltimore
Houston
Most expensive cities for all-electric:
Denver
Minneapolis
The NAHB data includes everything from replacing gas furnaces and water heaters with heat pumps, swapping gas ranges with induction and conventional electric ranges, and adding EV charging capabilities and all-electric dryers.
However, when you build a new construction home, you can make electric choices and upgrades as building is happening, and you may not add to the home’s sticker price at all. If electric features are considered an upgrade, you can roll those costs into your mortgage without adding too much to your monthly payment.
4. How to get started with your builder on an all-electric home design.
If you’re building from the ground up, you can work with your builder to make sure your new home is fully electric from day one. Here’s what to consider:
Ask early in the design process. Let your builder know you want an all-electric home before finalizing floor plans or electrical layouts. This ensures systems are designed for your needs from the start.
Review your system options. Discuss the types of electric heating, cooling, and cooking systems available, including heat pumps, induction cooktops, and tankless or heat pump water heaters.
Plan for solar power and battery storage. Even if you’re not installing solar panels right away, your builder can “solar ready” your home with the proper wiring, roof orientation, and panel capacity. By future-proofing your home, you can save on retrofitting costs later.
Upgrade your electrical panel. Ask about a 200-amp service panel (or higher) to handle the extra load of an all-electric home and leave room for future upgrades like EV chargers.
Check incentives and rebates. Your builder or local utilities providers may know about federal, state, or local incentives that can help offset upfront costs. Rewiring America has this calculator to help homeowners tap into programs in their zip code.
More Americans Prefer Electricity-powered Homes – but Only a Quarter Have Adopted Them
Yale University researchers have studied the country to better understand who’s on board with an all-electric future – and who isn’t.
31% prefer a home in which all major appliances – the stove, heating, water heater and more – are powered exclusively by electricity
29% prefer a home with most appliances powered by electricity, retaining just a gas stove for cooking
21% prefer to stick to a home powered by a mix of energy – fossil fuels, such as natural gas, propane, or oil – complemented by electricity
19% said they have no preference or don’t know which energy sources to rely on
However, nationwide, only 26% of homes are all-electric, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Harvard University policy analysts documented a state-by-state breakdown of residential all-electric uptake.
States with highest all-electric home adoption rates:
Florida (77%)
Hawaii 72%
States with moderate all-electric home adoption rates:
South Carolina (45.1%)
Tennessee (44.5%)
North Carolina (43.5%)
Louisiana (42.7%)
Washington (41.4%)
Arizona (39.4%)
Mississippi (37.1%)
Alabama (38.2%)
States with lowest all-electric home adoption rates:
New York (6.7%)
New Hampshire (6.5%)
Michigan (5.8%)
Homeowners in the South, Midwest, and Intermountain West regions of the US are more likely than those in the New England area to already reside in electric-only homes.
And then there are cities that are proactive and progressive on the all-electric front: San Francisco, Denver and Seattle are among those encouraging all-electric new construction with local building codes and collaboration with the homebuilding industry.
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