What a refrigerator costs to run in Georgia

What a refrigerator costs here

Across 4 plans priced in Georgia, a refrigerator adds $77.55 to $150.44 a year — $6.46 to $12.54 a month. The median plan puts a refrigerator at $132.15 a year.

Cheapest for a refrigerator: SCHEDULE TOU-RD-11 RESIDENTIAL DEMAND SERVICE, Georgia Power Co. Dearest: SCHEDULE R-30 RESIDENTIAL SERVICE, Georgia Power Co.

Those 929 kWh are billed at 8.4¢–16.2¢, against a 14.9¢ whole-bill average on the median plan: they land in the last tier the household reaches, so the average rate understates them by up to 1.3¢ per kWh.

What Georgia homes use

EIA's 2020 residential survey found 929 kWh a year across 414 sampled homes that run one, near the national 839 kWh. The middle half spans 573 kWh to 1,160 kWh, so a refrigerator varies by 587 kWh between one household and another.

Every refrigerator in the home, including a second one in a garage or basement. That average covers homes with a refrigerator — 99% of homes here.

That makes a refrigerator about 7% of the electricity a Georgia home uses. The remaining 12,342 kWh is what a refrigerator is billed on top of, and on a tiered or time-of-use plan that is what sets the rate it meets.

Light and heavy use of a refrigerator

A household in the lighter quarter runs a refrigerator for 573 kWh a year and pays $47.80 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 1,160 kWh and pays $96.84 — $49.04 more for a refrigerator on the same tariff.

Limits

A 2020 survey average for Georgia, not a measurement of any one home, priced against the 4 Georgia tariffs WattClear has ingested — not every plan sold there.