How Much Does It Cost to Run a Freezer All Year?
A typical 15 cu ft Energy Star chest freezer uses 350 kWh a year and costs $56 at the 2024 US average rate of $0.16/kWh. An upright of the same capacity uses 480 kWh and costs $77 — a $21 yearly premium for opening a door instead of a lid. A freezer runs all 8,760 hours in the year, so the annual figure is the honest one.
Two things move that number more than the freezer's size does: its age, and the room it sits in. Run your own numbers below.
Daily Cost
$0.15
1.0 kWh
Monthly Cost
$4.61
28.8 kWh
Yearly Cost
$56.06
350.4 kWh
For perspective...
At $56.06/year, that's about $5 per month — roughly 11 gallons of gas per year.
Preloaded with a 15 cu ft chest freezer at 40W, 24 hours a day. For an upright, change the wattage to 55W; for a pre-2010 unit, try 70W. That is effective continuous wattage, not the nameplate figure — here's why the two differ.
Yearly Cost by Freezer Size and Type
At $0.16/kWh. Notice how little capacity matters: going from 5 cu ft to 25 cu ft — five times the space — roughly doubles the bill, because most of a freezer's energy goes into fighting heat leaking through its walls, and a bigger box has proportionally less wall per cubic foot.
| Size | Chest (kWh/yr) | Chest cost/yr | Upright (kWh/yr) | Upright cost/yr | Upright premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 cu ft (compact) | 215 | $34 | 295 | $47 | $13 |
| 7 cu ft (small) | 250 | $40 | 345 | $55 | $15 |
| 9 cu ft (mid) | 290 | $46 | 400 | $64 | $18 |
| 15 cu ft (typical) | 350 | $56 | 480 | $77 | $21 |
| 25 cu ft (large) | 425 | $68 | 585 | $94 | $26 |
| Pre-2010 chest (15 cu ft) | 600 | $96 | — | — | +$40 vs. a new chest |
Chest figures are the Energy Star size tiers used on the chest freezer page. Upright figures apply the door-opening and defrost penalty as the ratio of the two effective wattages (55W ÷ 40W), rounded to the nearest 5 kWh. A pre-2010 unit is the one row worth acting on: it costs more per year than the gap between any two modern models.
Yearly Cost by Electricity Rate
Your rate scales everything on this page linearly. A freezer that costs $56 a year in a $0.16/kWh state costs double that in Hawaii or California. Find your state on the electricity rates page and read across.
| Rate ($/kWh) | Chest350 kWh/yr | Upright480 kWh/yr | Pre-2010 unit600 kWh/yr | Upright in a hot garage624 kWh/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.10 | $35 | $48 | $60 | $62 |
| $0.13 | $46 | $62 | $78 | $81 |
| $0.16 (US avg) | $56 | $77 | $96 | $100 |
| $0.22 | $77 | $106 | $132 | $137 |
| $0.33 | $116 | $158 | $198 | $206 |
The last column is the realistic worst case for a freezer someone actually owns: an upright, frost-free, in a garage that bakes all summer. At $0.33/kWh that single appliance costs $206 a year.
Where the Freezer Lives Changes the Yearly Bill More Than Its Size
A freezer doesn't destroy heat, it moves heat — out of the food and into the room behind it. The warmer that room, the longer the compressor runs. The EnergyGuide annual kWh is measured at 70°F ambient, which is roughly a conditioned basement. A garage that sits above 100°F all summer adds 20-40% to the year.
| Where it sits | Chest cost/yr | Upright cost/yr | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70°F basement or utility room | $56 | $77 | The EnergyGuide test condition — the sticker number is what you pay |
| Warm garage, mild summers | $67 | $92 | Low end of the garage penalty |
| Hot garage, 100°F+ summers | $73 | $100 | Middle of the range |
| Very hot garage (Phoenix, Houston) | $78 | $108 | High end — the compressor fights the room all summer |
Multipliers are the low, middle, and high end of the stated 20-40% garage penalty. Moving a chest freezer out of a hot garage and into a basement saves about $17a year — more than the entire difference between a 5 cu ft and a 9 cu ft model. Cold garages are the mirror-image trap: a standard freezer stops cycling reliably below about 40°F ambient, so an unheated northern garage risks a thaw. A "garage-ready" unit handles both extremes.
How Much Electricity Does a Freezer Use?
Yearly cost = annual kWh (from the EnergyGuide sticker) × your price per kWh
The wattage printed on a freezer — usually 80-150W — is what the compressor draws while it is running, and it doesn't run continuously. Once the contents are frozen it cycles on for about 25-35% of the day. Multiply nameplate watts by 24 hours and you'll roughly triple the real number.
So the figures here use effective continuous wattage: the sticker's annual kWh divided by the 8,760hours in a year. That drops straight into the watts × hours calculator above and comes out right.
Worked example (15 cu ft chest, 350 kWh/year, $0.16/kWh): 350 kWh × $0.16 = $56 per year — the same as 40W × 24 h × 365 days. Daily use works out to just 0.96 kWh, or $0.15 a day.
Over a Decade, the Electricity Costs More Than the Freezer Did
The sticker price is the number people compare in the store. It is usually the smaller of the two. Holding today's rate flat, here is what 10 years of running costs against what the appliance costs to buy:
Chest freezer
Buys for $200–$800. Costs $560 in electricity over 10 years.
A $200 unit passes its own sticker price in electricity after about 3.6 years.
Upright freezer
Buys for $250–$1,000. Costs $768 in electricity over 10 years.
The $21/year premium compounds to $208 — often more than the price gap between the two types at purchase.
10 years is an arithmetic horizon, not a prediction about how long a freezer lasts, and it assumes electricity prices hold steady. Both assumptions understate the case: freezers routinely outlive a decade, and rates have gone up. The point stands — when you choose a freezer you are choosing a recurring bill, not a one-time purchase. The old vs. new break-even math works the same way for the unit already in your garage.
Compare All Freezer Costs
Put a chest freezer, an upright, and your refrigerator side by side at your own electricity rate, and see the daily, monthly, and yearly cost of each at once.
Compare all freezer costs →Cutting the Yearly Bill
Get it out of the hot garage
Worth about $17 a year on a chest freezer, and it is a one-time decision. A 60-70°F basement tracks the EnergyGuide sticker most closely.
Retire the pre-2010 unit
About $40 a year against a current Energy Star chest — every year, for a freezer you already own. Many utilities add a $30-$75 haul-away rebate.
Set it to 0°F, not colder
0°F is the FDA target for frozen food. Every degree below buys nothing. A cheap freezer thermometer tells you where you actually are.
Keep it 75-90% full
Frozen food is thermal mass that holds cold between compressor cycles. If you can't fill it with food, jugs of water work — leave room for expansion.
Check the door gasket yearly
Close a dollar bill in the door and tug. If it slides out, the seal leaks cold 24/7. A $10-$25 gasket often recovers 5-10% of the kWh.
Don't run an empty second freezer
An empty freezer costs the same $56-$77 a year and cycles more often. If it will sit empty for months, unplug it and prop the door open.
Related Guides
Cost to Run a Chest Freezer
Annual kWh and cost by size, plus garage-placement caveats
Cost to Run a Standalone Freezer
Chest vs. upright by wattage and rate, with a prefilled calculator
Upright Freezer Purchase & Running Cost
What one costs to buy, and to run, with energy-saving tips
Cost to Run a Refrigerator
The other appliance that never switches off
The Cost of Running Appliances 24/7
Every always-on load in the house, priced by the year
Electricity Rates by State
The multiplier on every number on this page
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to run a freezer for a year?
About $56 a year for a typical 15 cu ft Energy Star chest freezer and $77 for the equivalent upright, at the 2024 US average rate of $0.16/kWh. That's 350 kWh and 480 kWh of electricity respectively. Compact 5-7 cu ft units run $34-$40 a year as chests. A pre-2010 freezer of the same size can use 600 kWh/year — about $96 — and a hot garage adds another 20-40% on top of any of these figures.
How much electricity does a freezer use?
A 15 cu ft chest freezer uses roughly 350 kWh per year; an upright of the same capacity uses about 480 kWh. Per day that's 0.96 kWh and 1.32 kWh. The nameplate on the freezer says 80-150W, but that is the compressor's draw only while it is running, and it runs 25-35% of the day once the food is frozen. Divide the EnergyGuide sticker's annual kWh by the 8,760 hours in a year and you get the effective continuous draw: about 40W for a chest and 55W for an upright.
Is a chest freezer or an upright freezer cheaper to run per year?
The chest, by about $21 a year at 15 cu ft — roughly 30-40% less electricity at the same capacity. Cold air is denser than warm air, so it sinks. Lift a chest freezer's lid and the cold stays in the box; swing an upright's door open and it pours out of the doorway, and the compressor has to re-chill a boxful of room-temperature air. Most uprights are also frost-free, which means a defrost heater periodically adds heat the compressor then removes again. The upright's premium buys you a labeled shelf instead of a dig to the bottom of a box.
How much does a freezer add to the electric bill each month?
Spread evenly across the year, about $4.67 a month for a 15 cu ft chest and $6.40 for an upright at the US average rate. It is not actually flat — a freezer in an unconditioned garage costs meaningfully more in July than in October — but the yearly total is the number worth budgeting against, because the appliance never switches off.
Does a freezer cost more to run in the summer?
Yes, if it lives somewhere that gets hot. A freezer removes heat from its interior and dumps it into the surrounding room, so the warmer that room is, the harder the compressor works and the longer it runs. The EnergyGuide annual kWh assumes 70°F ambient air; a garage that sits above 100°F all summer can push real-world use 20-40% higher. Moving a chest freezer from a hot garage to a 65°F basement saves roughly $17 a year. Cold garages cause the opposite problem: standard freezers don't cycle reliably below about 40°F ambient, so an unheated northern garage can let the freezer stop running and the food thaw. Look for a unit sold as "garage-ready" if the space swings either way.
Does an old freezer really cost that much more per year?
A pre-2010 15 cu ft freezer commonly uses around 600 kWh a year against 350 for a current Energy Star chest — about $40 a year, every year, for the same box of frozen food. Compressors, insulation, and refrigerants have all improved. If the old unit is a second freezer running in a hot garage, both penalties stack. Many utilities also pay a $30-$75 rebate to haul an old working freezer away, which shortens the payback on a replacement.
Is it worth unplugging a freezer that's nearly empty?
Usually yes, if it will stay empty for months. An empty freezer still costs the full $56-$77 a year — in fact it cycles more often than a full one, because frozen food is thermal mass that holds cold between compressor cycles and empty air isn't. If you want to keep it running, fill it to about 90% with jugs of water (leaving room for expansion). A second freezer only pays for itself when it lets you buy food at a discount you'd otherwise miss.