How the changeover usually goes
Check before you buy
Find the cooktop's electrical rating on its spec sheet and send it to an electrician with a photo of your switchboard. You'll know early whether there's room, or whether the board needs work.
The electrician assesses board and supply
They check for space for a new circuit breaker and safety switch, and whether the house's total load stays within what your supply can carry.
The gasfitter disconnects the gas
A licensed gasfitter disconnects the old cooktop and makes the gas supply safe. Ask what happens to the line and what paperwork you'll get.
The benchtop is adjusted
Induction cut-outs rarely match the old gas opening exactly, so a cabinet maker or stonemason may need to change it.
The electrician runs the circuit and connects
New cable from the switchboard, a breaker and safety switch to suit, then connection, testing and your compliance certificate.
Is there room on the switchboard?
Older boards with ceramic fuses, or boards with every space taken, often can't take a cooktop circuit without an upgrade. No safety switches matters too. In Queensland, a licensed electrician must not do installation work in a home with no approved safety switch for the power points unless the job includes installing one, and the Northern Territory has a similar rule from 1 December 2028.
An electrician who does a lot of kitchen and electrification work will look at the whole board, not just the one new circuit. Switchboard upgrades covers what changes if yours needs one.
Can the supply carry it?
An induction cooktop is one of the biggest loads in a kitchen, and it often arrives alongside other changes like heat pump hot water, reverse-cycle heating or an EV. Powercor says winter demand is rising as households switch to electric heating and transport. The electrician adds up what the house will run and checks it against your supply.
On Western Power's main grid in WA, the standard household supply has been 63 amps single phase, or 32 amps per phase on three phase, since 11 April 2023. Electrical contractors must assess household demand and apply for a bigger supply if new circuits would exceed it, and Western Power requires a main switch circuit breaker when circuit capacity is added. Other networks have their own limits, which the electrician deals with.
The gas side needs a different licence
Gasfitting is its own licensed trade. NSW treats it, like electrical wiring, as specialist work that can't be advertised without a contractor licence, and South Australia licenses gas fitters and electricians under the same Act through Consumer and Business Services. Unless your electrician also holds a gasfitting licence, they won't touch the gas line.
Your jobs, and the licensed ones
You can
- Check the cooktop's electrical rating and cut-out size before ordering.
- Test your pots with a magnet: if it sticks firmly to the base, the pot will work on induction.
- Line up the electrician, gasfitter and benchtop work in the right order.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Running the new cooktop circuit from the switchboard.
- Adding a breaker or safety switch, or upgrading the board.
- Checking the supply, and applying to the network if it needs more.
- Connecting and testing the cooktop, and issuing the certificate.
How we'd plan the switch
We'd have an electrician look at the switchboard before buying the cooktop, not after it's sitting in a box in the hallway. If the board needs an upgrade, or more electric appliances are coming, do it once and size it for all of them. Then book the gasfitter and electrician close together, with the benchtop sorted beforehand, so the kitchen is out of action for as little time as possible.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.