What does an upright freezer 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 an upright freezer that gives 1,445 kWh a year, or $265.

Higher than a chest freezer of the same volume for two reasons that compound. Cold air falls out of a front door every time it is opened and has to be made again, and most uprights are frost-free, which means a heater periodically melts the coils and the compressor then removes that heat as well.

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. 165 W — what it draws while it is actually drawing. This is the rating on the plate.
2. × 42% — the share of its in-service time it is really pulling that. Higher than a chest freezer of the same volume for two reasons that compound. Cold air falls out of a front door every time it is opened and has to be made again, and most uprights are frost-free, which means a heater periodically melts the coils and the compressor then removes that heat as well.
   That gives 69 W averaged across the hours it is on.
3. × 24 hours a day × 365 days — A 15 cu ft frost-free upright in a garage.
   69 × 24 × 365 ÷ 1,000 = 607 kWh a year.
4. × 18.34¢ — the US average residential rate for June 2026.
   607 kWh × 18.34¢ = $111 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.

What it emits

The same 607 kWh that costs $111 also emits about 493 lb of CO₂e a year on the average US grid — and that figure moves far more than the money does. On Vermont’s grid the same appliance emits 32 lb; on West Virginia’s it emits 1,195 lb. The full picture is here, including why an annual average cannot tell you whether running it at night is cleaner.

The thing worth knowing

The upright is the one keeping things colder for more money, and the gap is not small. ENERGY STAR’s own certified averages put a chest freezer at 215 kWh a year against 395 for an upright — nearly double — and most of that is the frost-free cycle rather than the door. A manual-defrost upright closes much of the gap and asks you to defrost it twice a year in exchange.

What it costs in your state

The appliance is the same everywhere; the rate is not. Running this upright freezer costs $320 a year in Hawaii and $80 in Nevada — a difference of 4×.

Cost of running one upright freezer 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.

• Garage refrigerator

  $130 a year

  An older second fridge in an unconditioned garage.

• 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.

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