Converting our oil Aga to run on electricity - Client case study
In this blog, my clients give an honest Aga electric conversion review.
By Fraser & Lee Mowlem - Aga owners Anglesey
“We fell in love with that bright red Aga (and the Anglesey blacksmith cottage that was attached to it), as soon as we walked into the kitchen on that fateful viewing day…
The red Aga and North Wales Cottage we fell in love with!
6 months later that beautiful Aga was at last, ours! Slightly terrified we started our wonderful journey into Aga cooking...everything tasted amazing, the kitchen was warm and yes… there was the odd unidentified burnt objects found in the oven the next day – but this was our dream ‘Mary-Berry-farmhouse-kitchen’ life coming true!
Our Aga ran on oil and we had it serviced annually by Andy but after a few winters and a few hefty oil price hikes, our lovely Aga was being lit for shorter and shorter periods of time every year to the point it became a Christmas luxury only. Two months was all we could afford to run her for as our winter oil consumption weighed in at over 500 litres per month. ( To qualify this high oil consumption. We also used oil for our central heating and have a house that is 50% wood and not very well insulated)
We only used our Oil Aga 2 months a year. Christmas time was so great in the kitchen when it was on
We spoke to Andy and he suggested there were ways we could make our oil Aga more efficient, and he performed some modifications and swapped out the old insulation for better, which all greatly improved our overall Aga efficiency and oil consumption but even Andy couldn’t foresee the huge oil and energy prices that started to soar as we hit 2022… our oil bill had quadrupled over a three year period!
Budget was now our top focus - we were starting to have conversations about selling our beloved Aga and moving over to a conventional (i.e.. boring) cooker but it was breaking our hearts, as it was one of the main things that made us fall in love with our home, our first home together.
Can I convert my AGA to electric Andy?
My husband was about to leave the RAF with a retirement lump sum so we decided to look at ways to reduce our day to day running costs, so we asked Andy what the options were. We always wanted solar panels and talking to Andy about that plan, he suggested converting the Aga over to electric.
He explained the pros, cons and running cots of the various electrical conversions available to us and we decided to go with the eControl conversion . The idea of being able to switch the Aga on and off, have it on ‘eco’ at weekends, when we knew we would be doing more cooking, running the hotplates and the ovens independently and even changing oven temperatures to bake, all sounded perfect!
The big day arrived, and Andy was here early to start the Aga electric conversion. I watched with eagerness as Andy swiftly and expertly switched out parts and put our red Aga lovingly back together with the new improved electric parts ( plus did a great deep clean too!) She emerged as a beautiful red Aga - mark 2.0, and this time to do her magic running on electric rather than oil… and electric that was made by sunshine (Anglesey weather permitting!)
So, is it worth converting an AGA to electric?
In our view yes! A few months have now passed and our love for the our little red Aga is still as heartfelt as ever. The Aga is now more flexible, controllable and adaptable. We love the larger hot plate area and often only need to turn one on to do the jobs we need.
We are lucky enough to both work from home and on a sunny winter’s day (if used intelligently) our smart meter bill can be under £3. Spring and Summer will bring a whole different budget friendly way of using our Aga that we can’t wait for! So far the conversion has been very worthwhile and we would love to provide a more detailed update in 6 months’ time.
Of course the only downside to our electric Aga is now Andy now longer has to come round and do an oil service every winter, so we will miss out on chatting and laughing with him over a mince pie!
“We are thrilled with the Aga now its been converted to electric, and love how its powered by the North Wales sunshine! (Anglesey weather permitting)”
“We highly recommend talking to Andy about converting your Aga over to Electric if you live in North Wales. We are overjoyed with our Aga conversion and how it better suits our lifestyle and budget.”
Lee and Fraser Mowlem - Anglesey, North Wales.
If you are looking at ways to make your Aga more efficient or have been toying with the idea of converting your Aga over to electric with an Aga electric conversion kit, please get in touch!
