Gas is expensive in California too though.

I’m not sure if natural gas in California is expensive compared to other areas, but I have natural gas in my heater, water heater, laundry, stove, and oven and I pay less than $30/month. My electricity bill is an order of magnitude higher each month and there’s only two people in my household and we don’t even have an AC or electric vehicle.

I’m not aware of any modern residential gas stoves which use a pilot, they use a spark to ignite on demand. Commercial ranges sometimes have a pilot though.

It’s still relatively common to have a pilot in a gas water heater or furnace though.