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Electricity Running Costs for Refrigerators and Freezers – Cost of Living Crisis


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I’m not saying I’m anxious about the cost of living and the huge rise in electricity prices, but here’s another post on How much does it cost to run an appliance. This won’t be the last.

With the price cap expected to rise another 40% in October, no matter how good you are, we’re in a bad time.

There’s been a lot of coverage of phantom power usage, and for those who are really struggling to pay their bills, it’s worth looking into.

As far as I can tell, hallucination use will be trivial compared to the ridiculous long accusations we incur, it feels like a criminal way to extort as much money as possible from people regardless of your energy usage.

Many people think that refrigerators and freezers are one of the larger appliances that use electricity, but in my opinion, this claim is greatly exaggerated.

They are essential, so you can’t turn them off. Very old appliances can be inefficient, and it’s hard to weigh the cost of buying new, efficient appliances against the energy savings you’ll get.

As far as I’m concerned, the numbers aren’t great, but not bad. I tested our two devices:

LG GSL760PZXV American Refrigerator Freezer

This was two years ago, with an energy rating of F (based on the new standard), and a refrigerator, which has a plumbing for a water and ice compartment.

Official energy use is 431 kWh/year. Based on the current variable tariff of 28p, this would be calculated to be £120 a year.

However, using TP-Link Tapo P110 Energy Monitoring Plugwe use much less.

There are only two of us in our house, which may reduce our usage.

Leaving both the refrigerator and freezer doors open until the unit started beeping at me and I saw the energy consumption increase to about 85 watts.

Most of the time when I checked it it was around 30-50w.

During testing, usage was typically well below 1kwh, more like 0.7kwh.

Assuming I hit 0.7kwh consistently throughout the year, that works out to be 255 kWh/year or about £71.54.

In my opinion, this is not something to worry about. I might reconsider this when the price goes up 40%.

under the counter fridge

We also have an old under-counter refrigerator that has been off for a few months, but I restarted it to test. The initial cooling process should consume more power, but still not that much.

Even though it’s old and probably much less efficient, the power usage is drastically reduced (because it’s tiny in comparison).

I’ve had it turned on for a few days and it’s showing an average of only 0.23 kWh per day or 84 kWh/yr, running it for just £24 per year.

Operating costs of other refrigerators and freezers

While it may not be worth buying a new refrigerator/freezer to save money, it may be worth considering running costs when purchasing. If I buy now, I might reconsider my bulky LG American fridge freezer.

Data is based on a variable rate of approximately 28p in May 2022. Running costs may be lower in my experience, but it depends on the number of people in your home, and I’m assuming the ambient temperature of your home.

refrigerator under counter

under counter freezer

Freestanding refrigerator freezer (single width)

American Refrigerator Freezer (Double Wide)

Spend a little more on the fridge and get an E energy rating

In hindsight, this isn’t surprising, but seeing the actual running costs makes it clear that a freezer costs far more to run than a refrigerator.

Buying a cheap refrigerator with an F energy rating is unlikely to save you a lot of money.

However, you’ll likely get a return on your investment by spending a little more on a more energy-efficient refrigerator.

Check out the models under the counter:

Popular Bosch models may be excellent appliances, but they are expensive to run, running £20 more per year than the cheapest Hisense.

The Hisense FV105D4BC21 is £50 more expensive than the cheapest Electra EFUZ48BE, but you’ll save £16 a year. This number will increase substantially when the price increase takes effect in October, and then again in January.



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