₹7.34. That is what one 50-litre hot bath costs on an LPG geyser in Delhi this October, and every gas vs electric geyser argument should start there. Buy a 5-star, 15-litre electric storage geyser instead, unless your winter power tops ₹6 a unit. Your slab decides, not the heater.
Key Takeaways: buy a 5-star electric storage geyser unless your top winter slab, with surcharge, tops about ₹6 a unit and gas can be fitted outside the bathroom.
- At October 2026 prices, a 50-litre Delhi gas bath costs ₹7.34.
- Electric matches that at ₹5.68 a unit and is cheaper below it.
- At a ₹6.5 slab, a family of four pays ₹127 a month more on electric.
- Never accept a gas geyser inside a closed bathroom.
Gas vs electric geyser: which is cheaper per bath?
A gas geyser is cheaper only when each extra unit of electricity costs more than about ₹5.68; below that, a 5-star electric storage geyser heats the same bath for less.
Start with the water, because it does not care what heats it. Lifting 50 litres from 20 °C to 40 °C takes 1.163 kWh. An electric storage geyser, allowing 10% for heat leaking from the tank, bills about 1.29 units per bath; whether extra stars cut that enough to pay depends on tariff, as our 5-star refrigerator payback showed.
Gas follows the same sum. LPG releases 47.3 MJ per kilo, the net calorific value in the IPCC 2006 Guidelines, which fixes the gas a bath burns: 0.11 kg at an assumed 80% efficiency.
Here the usual advice goes wrong. Retailer guides weigh features and skip the rupee, yet the tariff is nearly the whole answer. DERC's tariff schedule sets Delhi's base slabs at ₹3, ₹4.50, ₹6.50, ₹7 and ₹8 a unit, unchanged since FY 2020-21, so one electric bath costs ₹3.88 at the bottom and ₹10.34 at the top. Slabs settled our oil heater vs fan heater comparison too.
Four numbers decide whether that holds for you. Indane's Delhi cylinder rose ₹29 on 7 June 2026, its second rise this year, ETV Bharat reported. DERC then let BSES Rajdhani bill a higher May fuel surcharge, Business Today reported on 13 July 2026. The other two cards are our derivations.
One Cylinder, Baths Only
32 days
Derived: four baths a day
Delhi LPG Cylinder
₹942
About ₹66 a kilo of gas
Electric Units a Month
155 units
Enough to cross a slab
BSES Rajdhani Surcharge
17.94%
Turns ₹6.5 into ₹7.67
The surcharge is the card buyers never see coming. DERC applies it to fixed and energy charges together and resets it monthly, so January's rate may differ from May's.
Delhi's surcharge moved the line more than any geyser could: a ₹6.5 slab now bills nearer ₹7.67, and at that rate gas heats every bath for less.
Worked example: a Delhi family of four, one 50-litre bath each a day, water heated from 20 °C to 40 °C, a ₹6.5 top slab before surcharge, and the ₹942 cylinder. Electric: 1.163 kWh ÷ 0.9 = 1.29 units, × ₹6.5 = ₹8.40 a bath. Gas: 1.163 × 3.6 ÷ 0.8 ÷ 47.3 = 0.11 kg, at ₹942 ÷ 14.2 = ₹66.34 a kilo, so ₹7.34. Over 120 baths a month: ₹1,008 electric, ₹881 gas, a ₹127 gap. Divide ₹7.34 by 1.29 units and the line sits at ₹5.68. Your own check takes a minute: take the top slab on your December bill, add its surcharge, compare.
Add the surcharge and an electric bath reaches ₹9.91, putting gas ₹308 a month ahead. Two facts tilt back. Delhi's 2026-27 budget kept zero bills to 200 units and half bills, capped at ₹800, to 400, Energetica India reported. And geysers work hardest in December, with the AC off. Our view: judge a geyser on a winter bill, never a June one.
Where the two heaters differ, row by row
The two heaters differ less in efficiency than in what their fuel costs, how that price moves, which safety mark they carry and where on the wall they are allowed to hang.
| Where they differ | Gas vs electric | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 💰 Fuel price | Gas ₹66.34/kg Electric ₹3-₹8/unit |
⚠️ Your slab picks the winner |
| 🧾 Price moves | Gas +₹89 since March Electric monthly fuel surcharge |
⚠️ Recheck both every winter |
| ⚖️ Mark to check | Gas ISI, IS 15558:2024 Electric BEE star label |
✅ No mark, no purchase |
| 🛠 Fitting | Gas outside wall, flued Electric inside the bathroom |
❌ Closed bathrooms ruled out |
| 🏁 Best suited for | Gas above ₹6 a unit Electric below ₹6 a unit |
🏁 Your December bill decides |
The money rows point opposite ways, which is the honest result. At last year's ₹853 cylinder the line would sit at ₹5.14, so the 2026 hikes widened gas's band. No tariff argues down the fitting row.
At ₹6.5 a unit, electric spends more heating the water than gas spends on the whole bath, so unit price, not efficiency, decides which to buy. Derived from the worked example: 50 litres, 20 °C to 40 °C, gas 80% and electric 90% efficient.
Is a gas geyser safe inside a bathroom?
A gas geyser is safe only when it hangs outside the bathroom or vents through a flue to open air, because a burner in a closed room builds up odourless carbon monoxide.
The warning is current. A 27-year-old Bengaluru employee was found unconscious in a small, poorly ventilated homestay bathroom in Kodagu, and police suspected carbon monoxide from the gas geyser, the Deccan Herald reported on 8 June 2026, post-mortem awaited. Booking a homestay this winter? Look above the shower first.
A seven-year gas-geyser user on an Indian home-tech forum wrote in February 2010: "keep cylinder and unit outside (free space) as much as possible". The grey area is a sealed, balanced-flue unit mounted indoors; we would still keep the burner outside, because that flue is easy to get wrong.
Ujjwala households face a harsher sum. Subsidised refills fell from nine to four a year, IANS reported on 8 June 2026, at ₹642 each in Delhi: gas bathwater at ₹5.00 and a ₹3.87 line, but only about four months of baths. Buying in a sale? Check the price-history low first with our fake festive discount check.
- A gas unit or cylinder in a closed bathroom without an exhaust fan.
- No ISI mark on the heater: BIS lists certification as mandatory.
- A cracked or stiff rubber hose.
- A homestay where nobody mentioned the gas unit.
Gas only if all four hold
- Top winter slab plus surcharge above ₹6.
- Heater mounts outside, flue in open air.
- Four or more full baths most days.
- Room for one extra cylinder a month.
Our call: a 15-litre, 5-star electric storage geyser, unless your winter rate clears ₹6 a unit and gas can live outside the bathroom. This week, pull out last December's bill, find its top slab, add the surcharge, and buy on that number.
How we checked this
We checked Indane's Delhi cylinder price after the 7 June 2026 increase, unchanged on 16 October 2026; the LPG calorific value in the IPCC 2006 Guidelines; DERC's domestic tariff schedule; and the BIS record for IS 15558:2024. The worked example assumes 50-litre baths heated from 20 °C to 40 °C, with gas at 80% and electric at 90% efficiency. No product was tested hands-on for this article. Last verified: 26 October 2026.
Edited by Ansari, reviewed after publication. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
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