Fuel prices are rising rapidly, as a major cost of living crisis looms in the UK.
Issues surrounding gas supplies from Russia are threatening to force prices higher and, naturally, Brits are wondering whether their appliances are reliant on it and how they might be affected.
But with gas and electric appliances heavily interlinked, working out the details of the two can be hard.
Most people are likely to have an oven in their homes, but many will not have bought it themselves - if you live in a rental property, for instance, it may be hard to tell what kind of oven you have installed.
Is my oven gas or electric?
Electric ovens use elements to heat them up, while a gas oven is likely to have a gas burner at the back.
Turn your oven on to see if you can see flames coming out of gas jets - if they do, you have a gas oven.
The easiest way to tell if it is an electric fan oven is by looking at the front of the oven and looking to see if there is a three-pronged fan symbol on any of the dials.
If the fan is in a circle it is likely an electric fan oven, and if it is not in a circle it is likely a fan-assisted oven.
Having both symbols just means your oven has two different settings.
Does a gas oven use electricity?
While nowhere near as much as a purely electric oven, a gas oven does still use some electricity to keep the gas igniter running, as well as features like the clock.
Does an electric oven use gas?
While an electric oven does not use any gas in the home, the original source of the electricity may well have come from fossil fuels.
Data from the Balancing Mechanism Reporting Service indicates the National Grid was generating 25% of the UK’s electricity from natural gas, meaning that your electric oven could well still be involved in the gas-burning process.
More positively, 43% of the UK’s power was reportedly coming from renewable sources at the time of writing.
Is a gas or electric oven cheaper to run?
According to How Stuff Works, cooking only uses around 4.5% of the energy used in the home in the US, with things like fridges far bigger drains on the environment and our wallets.
However, according to Capital Repairs, gas ovens tend to be far cheaper to run, costing homes around £20 per year, as opposed to the £40 spent on running an electric oven.
How these figures are affected by the widespread decision to move away from Russian gas remains to be seen.
