Close the Atmos cooktop bill: Costco induction in College Station

A College Station house that still had a gas cooktop — and almost no other gas load — was paying Atmos Energy $49.69 for 2 CCF in July 2026. The August final bill covered five days, used 0.00 CCF, and still charged $46.36. The commodity was a few dollars. The customer charge and the 2026 GRIP surcharge were not.

If cooking is the last gas appliance, closing Atmos and moving the skillet to a Costco induction cooktop is not a lifestyle project. It is a $43–$47/month line you can stop paying. Invest that conservative $43.24/month at 7% for 30 years and it becomes $52,752. Check your own December–February CCF first. If winter is many times July’s 2 CCF, you still have heat or hot water on the meter.

One Top Pro ($99.99, prices as of September 3, 2026) pays back in about 2.3 months. Dual Top ($169.99) pays back in about 3.9 months. If the cooktop is paid from the first months of savings and the rest is invested at 7%, the 30-year pile is still about $51,940 (One Top) or $51,372 (Dual Top).

This only works if you can actually close the gas account. Keep a gas furnace or water heater and Atmos will still send the customer charge.

What the two Atmos bills actually charged

Both statements are College Station residential (Atmos rate R024), summer 2026. The name, account number, and street are left off this page.

Atmos publishes the customer charge as a $35.50 base plus a $0.05 conservation rider. GRIP (Texas Utilities Code §104.301) is a separate $10.72 surcharge on these bills for plant placed in service since the last rate case, effective for service on or after June 5, 2026. It stays until the next rate case rolls it into base rates. The August statement is a five-day final, not a prorated month — Atmos still billed the monthly floor. That is the tariff, which is why a zero-use month is still about $46.36. July is the only full-month sample here.

July’s 2.00 CCF is a cooktop month: consumption $0.99, gas cost recovery $2.43, plus a few cents of Winter Storm Uri surcharge. That is the cheap part. The meter fee is the bill.

Move the skillet to Costco, not a $2,000 range

You do not need a new 30-inch slide-in to kill this account. Costco.com (College Station warehouse 1614, zip 77845) was selling two portable Nuwave induction units on September 3, 2026 — members only, online, shipping included:

One burner — $99.99

Nuwave One Top Pro Precision Induction Cooktop (item 1987017, model 80034CT). One 11-inch-class zone, touch control, auto shut-off. Enough if one pot is on at a time.

Planning photo — not Costco’s product shot. Confirm the live item page before you buy.

Two burners — $169.99

Nuwave Dual Top Precision Induction Cooktop (item 1833647, model 80042CT). Two 11.5-inch surfaces. Both zones typically share about 1,800 W, so two pots at once are slower than one pot on the One Top. Closer to replacing a four-burner gas top for weeknight cooking, not two full-power burners.

Planning photo — not Costco’s product shot. Confirm the live item page before you buy.

At $43.24/month net, the One Top pays back in about 2.3 months. The Dual Top pays back in about 3.9 months. That is the cooktop only. Plug it into a kitchen 15 A / 1800 W receptacle — not a cheap extension cord, not a power strip. After payback you are only paying College Station Utilities for the kWh.

Test the pots you already have

Induction only heats a magnetic, flat bottom that covers most of the coil. The Nuwave One Top and Dual Top are about 11–11.5 inches. A pan can be “stainless” and still fail. Run these checks before you buy a set.

1. Fridge-magnet test. Stick a magnet on the outside bottom, not the side. It should grab hard and stay when you lift the pan a little. A weak slide means the coil may not couple.
2. Look for the coil symbol. A spiral or the word “induction” on the underside or box is the manufacturer claiming compatibility. Still do the magnet test — labels get it wrong.
3. Size. The pot should cover most of the 11–11.5 inch zone. A 6-inch butter warmer or a 17-inch griddle that hangs off the glass often will not start, or it will heat a ring.
4. Flatness. Lay a ruler across the bottom. A warped aluminum disk will sit on a rim and chatter or error out.
5. Water test on the Nuwave. Put ½ cup of water in the pan, set Med or 375°F. It should simmer in a couple of minutes. No heat, a U-shaped error, or the unit shutting off means the pan is not coupling. Return it.

Usually fail: bare aluminum, copper, glass, ceramic casserole, many hard-anodized nonstick sets, and some 18/10 stainless that has no magnetic ply. Couples but cooks unevenly: a thin disk-bottom pot, hybrid nonstick, and bare cast iron — they will heat, then you get a hot ring or a slow, heavy skillet. Performs: fully clad 3-ply or 5-ply stainless, magnetic exterior, aluminum core to the rim.

Costco 3-ply and 5-ply sets that perform on induction

Browse Costco cookware and look for tri-ply or 5-ply clad, not just an induction icon. The magnetic outer ply is what the Nuwave can grab. The aluminum core to the rim is what keeps sauce from scorching in a ring the size of the coil. High stars on a hard-anodized or hybrid pan do not mean even induction heat.

These are the Costco sets that are both highly reviewed and fully clad (Costco.com ratings as summarized December 2025; confirm live stock for College Station 77845).

Magnet-test what you own before you buy a set. A $200 Tramontina 12-piece is about five more months of the Atmos floor. All-Clad is a nicer set, not required to close the meter.

Functions, not the best heat: HexClad hybrid and Lodge cast iron will couple. They are not clad 3-ply/5-ply, so they are off this list — HexClad is a hybrid surface; cast iron is slow and can scratch the Nuwave glass.

Skip even if the stars are high: the All-Clad 7-quart hard-anodized stock pot is 4.8 stars and Costco says excluding induction. Circulon, Caraway, GreenPan, and Anolon can be 4.6–4.8 and still be non-magnetic nonstick. A 17×12 Lodge griddle can be induction-ready and still be too wide for an 11.5-inch zone.

Need a membership or a shop card toward the cooktop or a set? Print the filled Refer-a-Friend flyer and take a friend to the College Station counter.

Gold Star is $20 each; Executive is $40 each when both of you auto-renew on a Visa. Official terms and the December 31, 2026 expiration are on Costco’s Refer-a-Friend page. Numbered steps live on the Costco hub.

The electricity you add back is small

Induction is not free energy. It is a CSU kWh instead of an Atmos CCF.

Two CCF of gas cooking is about 2 therms. A gas burner puts roughly a third of that heat into the pan. Induction is around 80% efficient, so the same cooking is about 26 kWh. At the site’s College Station Utilities planning rate of $0.12/kWh, that is $3.12/month.

• Conservative net: $46.36 Atmos floor − $3.12 = $43.24/month
• July-like net: $49.69 − $3.12 = $46.57/month

You cannot shop a retail electric provider on CSU. The extra kWh is a usage line, not a reason to open a Houston 12-month plan. Run the energy audit if you want that kWh on a whole-house estimate.

$43.24 a month at 7% for 30 years

This is a future-value-of-an-annuity, compounded monthly:

FV = PMT × [((1 + 0.07/12)^360 − 1) / (0.07/12)]

Pay the cooktop out of the first two to four months of savings and treat that cash as money that did not earn 7% for 30 years. The pile is still $51,940 (One Top) or $51,372 (Dual Top) on the conservative path — the same numbers as the cards above. A clad set is extra and is not subtracted here.

That 7% is a planning rate — a long-run stock/fund mix, not a promise. If you spend the $43, you do not get the $53,000. If you keep a gas furnace, you do not get the $43.

When not to close Atmos

• Gas heat or a gas water heater is still on the meter. The customer charge stays. If December–February CCF is many times July’s 2 CCF, do not close Atmos. Swap the cooktop for convenience; do not count the whole bill as saved.
• Renter. You probably cannot kill the house meter. See the renter playbook.
• Pans fail the magnet or water test. Buy 3-ply or 5-ply clad from the list above. A few magnetic pots still cost less than 30 years of $35.55.
• No safe 15 A kitchen outlet. 1,800 W on a cheap extension cord is a fire line, not a savings line.
• You wanted a built-in range. A portable unit is a counter appliance. If the goal is a 30-inch slide-in, re-run the payback on that sticker, not $99.99.

The home energy survey still ranks AC, attic, and west glass for the electric bill. This page is only the Atmos cooktop line that was left after the other gas loads were already gone.

Planning math from two 2026 College Station Atmos statements and Costco.com member prices on September 3, 2026. Cookware ratings are Costco.com figures as summarized December 2025. Confirm live Costco prices, induction tags, Atmos tariffs, and whether you can actually close the gas account before you buy.