to legally drop someone in the electric chair you have build the chair and the whole chamber and make sure they are isolated.
the pricey bit is when it comes to actually frying someone.
first thing they do is fire up a huge generator about 12hours(burning several gallons of diesel per hour) before the planned execution. then they run all kinds of tests to make sure old sparky is in working order(paying union electricians on a government contract at god knows how much an hour), then they have to bring the prisoner in and have someone who has been trained to strap him in(whatever teh salary of a "skilled" state employee is), then they have to fry the person.
mean while you have fire department on scene, doctors on scene, all the guards who get to stand around and watch, security for witnesses, electricians on call in case anything goes wrong, and EMT's on scene in case there is an accident.
seems to me it would be easier/cheaper to throw someone in a bath tub full of ice cold water and drop in a few running hair dryers.
Just because you might change for the future doesn't mean your actions in the past can go unaccounted for.
