What a refrigerator costs to run in Ohio
Ohio homes use 821 kWh a year on a refrigerator. Priced on top of the rest of the bill, that costs $57.86 to $81.00 a year across 3 published Ohio plans — a $23.14 gap. Checked September 2, 2026.
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Every priced plan, average
| Plan | Per year | vs cheapest | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential✓ cheapesttime-of-use · tiered | $57.86 | — | 7.0¢ |
| Residential (KW11)flat rate | $68.76 | +$10.90 | 9.6¢ |
| Residential (KW10)flat rate | $81.00 | +$23.14 | 11.1¢ |
Cost across usage levels
The cheapest plan at each consumption level, showing whether the ranking holds as usage changes.
- Lighter use — cheapest $36.87 (Residential), dearest $51.60, a $14.73 spread
- Average — cheapest $57.86 (Residential), dearest $81.00, a $23.14 spread
- Heavier use — cheapest $72.30 (Residential), dearest $101.28, a $28.98 spread
What a refrigerator costs here
Across 3 plans priced in Ohio, a refrigerator adds $57.86 to $81.00 a year — $4.82 to $6.75 a month. The median plan puts a refrigerator at $68.76 a year.
Cheapest for a refrigerator: Residential, City of Cleveland, Ohio (Utility Company). Dearest: Residential (KW10), City of Columbus, Ohio (Utility Company).
Those 821 kWh are billed at 7.0¢–9.9¢, against a 9.6¢ 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 0.2¢ per kWh.
What Ohio homes use
EIA's 2020 residential survey found 821 kWh a year across 337 sampled homes that run one, near the national 839 kWh. The middle half spans 523 kWh to 1,026 kWh, so a refrigerator varies by 503 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 8% of the electricity an Ohio home uses. The remaining 9,457 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.
By provider
On each Ohio provider's cheapest plan: City of Cleveland, Ohio (Utility Company), $57.86; City of Columbus, Ohio (Utility Company), $68.76.
City of Columbus, Ohio (Utility Company) charges $10.90 a year more than City of Cleveland, Ohio (Utility Company) on Residential for the same 821 kWh.
Light and heavy use of a refrigerator
A household in the lighter quarter runs a refrigerator for 523 kWh a year and pays $36.87 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 1,026 kWh and pays $72.30 — $35.43 more for a refrigerator on the same tariff.
Limits
A 2020 survey average for Ohio, not a measurement of any one home, priced against the 3 Ohio tariffs WattClear has ingested — not every plan sold there.
New to these terms? The methodology page explains tiered bands, time-of-use periods and fixed charges, and sets out exactly what the rate engine assumes.
Estimate — your actual bill may differ.
Tariff structures from NREL/OpenEI Utility Rate Database (CC0 1.0), retrieved September 2, 2026.
Location resolved through the US Census Bureau Geocoder (Public domain) at 41.4993, -81.6944.