What a refrigerator costs to run in Illinois

What a refrigerator costs here

Across 24 plans priced in Illinois, a refrigerator adds $86.16 to $86.16 a year — $7.18 to $7.18 a month. The median plan puts a refrigerator at $86.16 a year.

Cheapest for a refrigerator: Regular Residential - Southern View (Rate 31), City of Springfield, Illinois (Utility Company). Dearest: Regular Residential (Rate 30), City of Springfield, Illinois (Utility Company).

Those 810 kWh are billed at 10.6¢–10.6¢, against a 11.9¢ whole-bill average on the median plan, so on these plans the two rates are close.

What Illinois homes use

EIA's 2020 residential survey found 810 kWh a year across 526 sampled homes that run one, near the national 839 kWh. The middle half spans 497 kWh to 1,054 kWh, so a refrigerator varies by 557 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 10% of the electricity an Illinois home uses. The remaining 7,642 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 497 kWh a year and pays $52.80 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 1,054 kWh and pays $112.12 — $59.32 more for a refrigerator on the same tariff.

The winner changes with volume: Regular Residential - Southern View (Rate 31) for lighter use, Regular Residential (Rate 30) for heavier.

Limits

A 2020 survey average for Illinois, not a measurement of any one home, priced against the 24 Illinois tariffs WattClear has ingested — not every plan sold there.