Energy-saving appliances Energy-efficient fridges
Pick a fridge with low running costs to cut you electricity bills
Refrigeration appliances notch up a staggering £2 billion in electricity bills each year in the UK – that's as much electricity as four 700MW power stations produce in a year – so it comes as little surprise that using an energy-efficient fridge can make a real difference to your energy bills.
Top energy-saving fridges
Energy labels give a good indication of which models are more energy-efficient than others, but they won’t tell you how much a fridge will cost to run. As part of our in-depth fridge testing we calculate exactly how much electricity each model uses and how much it will add to your energy bill. Our fridge energy running cost tool reveals how much each model costs to run and over its lifetime.
We’ve awarded our Energy Saver logo to the Best Buy fridges that are the cheapest to run. These models are quick to chill fresh food and will keep a constant temperature if your kitchen heats up or cools down. They also have low running costs based on the amount of usable storage space you’re paying to power. Which? members can log in to reveal our top recommendations in the table below.
If you're new to Which?, you can sign up for a Which? trial here to unlock the table and gain instant access to all our reviews and expert buying advice.| Energy-saving Best Buy fridges | ||
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Fridge running costs compared
We’ve found significant differences in running costs between similar-sized fridge freezers with the same energy label, like these two A+ rated models in the table below:
| Running cost of fridges compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Model | Litres | Running cost |
| Lec | L5010W | 99 | £13 |
| Whirlpool | ARC 104/1 | 91 | £23 |
To help you work out the true price of a fridge, we’ve developed our fridge energy running costs tool. You can use it to compare what models cost to power over their lifetime, and weigh up running costs against the purchase price to see which are the best value overall.
This tool will help you buy the most energy-efficient fridge. To pick one that will keep your groceries perfectly chilled and that comes with lots of useful storage features, check out our fridge review area.
Fridge energy-efficiency
Every fridge you see in the shops will have an energy label and rating to indicate how energy-efficient it is. The most efficient models are rated A+++.
To comply with new EU energy efficiency targets, manufacturers voluntarily removed all models from the market that rated less than A in July 2010. From July 2012 this will extend to models rated less than A+. However, if your last fridge was bought before September 1999, it could be anything up to a G rating, with no limit on how much energy it uses.
- More ways to cut your energy costs
- Top fridge buying tips
- Check out Which? Best Buy fridges
