Energy-saving appliances Energy-efficient fridges
Pick a fridge with low running costs to cut your electricity bills
Refrigeration appliances notch up a staggering £2bn in electricity bills each year in the UK because they're switched on around the clock. Choosing an energy-efficient model could help you cut your energy bills while helping the environment.
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 over its lifetime.
We’ve awarded our Energy Saver logo to the Best Buy fridges that are the most efficient. These models are quick to chill fresh food and will maintain 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.
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| Energy-saving Best Buy fridges | ||
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| Model | Type | Typical running costs |
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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, such as these two A+ rated models in the table below:
| Running costs of fridges compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Model | Litres | Annual running costs |
| 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 costs tool. You can use it to compare how much 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 reviews.
Fridge energy-efficiency
Every fridge you see in the shops will have an energy label and rating to indicate how energy efficient it is - find out more in our guide to fridge energy labels. The most efficient models are rated A+++.
To comply with new EU energy-efficiency targets, manufacturers stopped making models rated lower than A+ in July 2012. 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.
- Find more ways to cut your energy costs
- See our top fridge buying tips
- Check out Which? Best Buy fridges
