What does a garage refrigerator cost to run?

Run the numbers on your own use

Change any of these and the figures update. The defaults are the typical case described above; your rate is the input that moves the answer most.

Why this is lower than the number you will see elsewhere

Almost every published answer to this question multiplies the rating on the label by the hours the appliance is switched on. For a garage refrigerator that gives 1,577 kWh a year, or $289.

Higher than a kitchen fridge because a garage is hotter in summer, and often an older unit with worn seals.

The arithmetic, step by step

Nothing here is hidden, so you can check it or change it. Working in the order the formula runs:

1. 180 W — what it draws while it is actually drawing. This is the rating on the plate.
2. × 45% — the share of its in-service time it is really pulling that. Higher than a kitchen fridge because a garage is hotter in summer, and often an older unit with worn seals.
   That gives 81 W averaged across the hours it is on.
3. × 24 hours a day × 365 days — An older second fridge in an unconditioned garage.
   81 × 24 × 365 ÷ 1,000 = 710 kWh a year.
4. × 18.34¢ — the US average residential rate for June 2026.
   710 kWh × 18.34¢ = $130 a year.

Change any assumption in the calculator above and every figure on this page moves with it. The two that matter most are your rate, which varies 4× across the country, and the hours — the duty cycle is a property of the appliance, but the hours are a property of you.

How sensitive is that number?

A single figure invites more confidence than it deserves. Here is the same appliance under assumptions either side of the default, so you can see how much of the answer is the appliance and how much is the guess about how you use it.

Everything else held at the default. The spread here is the honest error bar on the headline figure.

What it costs per hour, day and month

At 18.34¢ per kWh, the US residential average for June 2026.

The thing worth knowing

The classic hidden load. An old second fridge, half empty, in a hot garage, is commonly the largest single unexplained item on a bill, and it typically costs more per year to run than a new one costs to buy.

Against refrigerator

Consolidate into the main fridge and unplug it. Many utilities will collect a working second fridge free and pay a rebate for it. In numbers: a garage refrigerator costs $130 a year on these assumptions, and refrigerator doing a comparable job costs $77 — a difference of $53 a year, or $530 over ten years at today’s rate.

Both at 18.34¢/kWh, each on its own standard usage assumption. Ten years is roughly the service life of either.

What it costs in your state

The appliance is the same everywhere; the rate is not. Running this garage refrigerator costs $374 a year in Hawaii and $93 in Nevada — a difference of 4×.

Cost of running one garage refrigerator for a year, by state. Residential average price, EIA June 2026.

Other kitchen costs

• Standalone ice maker

  $253 a year

  An undercounter unit kept switched on year round.

• Wine cellar cooling unit

  $239 a year

  A through-wall unit holding a small purpose-built cellar at 55°F.

• Refrigerator

  $77 a year

  A modern 20 cu ft top-freezer, kitchen at normal room temperature.

• Kegerator

  $64 a year

  A single-tap unit kept at serving temperature year round.

• Chest freezer

  $63 a year

  A 15 cu ft chest freezer in a garage.

• Electric oven

  $62 a year

  An hour of baking most days.

Questions

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, June 2026. U.S. Government work, public domain.

How every figure on this page is computed · Where the data comes from