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How much does it cost to run a freezer?

Work out what any appliance costs to run per use, per month and per year on your own electricity rate — including what it draws on standby. Rates for all 50 states.

Showing US rates
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Using the US average of 18.44¢/kWh — the U.S. Energy Information Administration, May 2026.

A separate chest or upright freezer, not the freezer half of a fridge freezer. Like a fridge it never switches off, so the only figure that means anything is the yearly one.

Rates vary widely across US — picking yours makes the answer far closer.
Wattage is on the rating plate or in the manual. Washing machines and dishwashers usually quote kWh per cycle instead.
Usage
W
min
kWh
Your tariff
¢/kWh
On your bill or in your online account. If you do not know it, the average for your area is filled in already.
W
Leave at 0 if you unplug it. Most things with a clock, light or remote draw 0.5–3 W.
Cost per use $0.10
Cost per year $36.92
Cost per month $3.08
Energy per use 0.55 kWh
Energy per year 200 kWh
Of which standby $0.00

Common cases

What drives the cost

A freezer is one of only two or three things in a house that never switches off, and that changes which number matters. Per use it is pennies; across a year it is one of the larger single items on the bill, because it is working every hour of every day whether or not anyone opens it. A modern A-rated chest freezer uses somewhere around 150 to 250 kWh a year, an older or larger one comfortably double that.

Two things move the figure more than the model does. A freezer works by moving heat out of the cabinet into the room, so a warm room makes it work harder — a freezer in a heated kitchen costs noticeably more to run than the same freezer in a cool garage, which is the opposite of most people's assumption about where appliances belong. And a full freezer is cheaper than an empty one, because frozen food holds its cold while air does not: every time the lid opens, a half-empty freezer loses most of its cold air and has to chill a fresh cabinet of warm air.

How this is worked out

Electricity is billed per kilowatt hour. An appliance's kilowatt hours are its power in kilowatts multiplied by the hours it runs — so a 2,000 W appliance running for 30 minutes uses 1 kWh. Multiply that by your rate and you have the cost. The fixed monthly customer charge your utility adds is not included, because you pay it whether or not you switch anything on.

What this assumes

  • The appliance draws its rated power for the whole time it is on. Anything thermostatically controlled — ovens, heaters, refrigerators, air conditioners — cycles on and off, so the real figure is lower.
  • Your rate is flat all day. On a time-of-use plan the same appliance costs materially different amounts depending on when you run it, and peak rates can be several times the off-peak rate.
  • State averages come from the EIA and blend every utility in that state. Your own utility may be meaningfully above or below it, so use your bill where you can.
  • A year is 52 weeks of identical use, which overstates seasonal appliances and understates ones you use in bursts.
  • The rate filled in for you is an average that spreads fixed charges across a year's usage, so it sits above what one extra unit really costs. Entering the unit rate from your own bill gives a closer answer.

Questions

Is a chest freezer cheaper to run than an upright?

Usually yes, and for a reason that has nothing to do with the technology. Cold air sinks, so when you open a chest freezer it mostly stays in the box, while opening an upright lets it pour out of the door. Chest models also tend to have thicker insulation. The gap is smaller than it used to be, but it is real.

Should I keep a freezer in the garage?

For running cost, a cool garage is better than a warm kitchen — the compressor has less work to do. The catch is the other direction: many freezers are not rated to work below about 10 °C, and in an unheated garage in winter the thermostat can stop calling for cooling even though the contents need it. Check for a garage-rated or winter-rated model before moving one out there.

Does this include the monthly service charge?

No, deliberately. The fixed customer charge is billed for being connected at all, so it does not change when you run an appliance more or less. Including it would make every appliance look more expensive than it is.

Why is the default rate different from what I pay?

The figure filled in is the EIA state average across all utilities in your state. Rates inside a single state can vary widely between a municipal utility and an investor-owned one, so your bill is always the better number.

Where do I find the wattage?

On the nameplate — usually a label on the back, base or inside the door — or in the manual. It is written as W or kW. If it only lists amps, multiply amps by 120 for a standard outlet, or 240 for a large appliance circuit.

Sources

Rates from U.S. EIA for May 2026. Last reviewed September 3, 2026.