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How Much Electricity Does a Mini Refrigerator Use?

A basic 120 V mini refrigerator uses approximately 90 watts of power, or about as much as a standard light bulb.

More Info: Overall, this averages out to a little over 230 kilowatt hours per year. Depending on how much your power company charges, this could cost you anywhere from $20 to $30 per year. This is based on an assumption of working-day only usage; if the fridge were to remain on continually during the entire year, the costs could range as high as $50-75.

You can calculate the exact yearly cost of running any electrical device in this way: Watt-hours/1000 x cost per kilowatt hour x number of hours per week x 52 (weeks per year, if used every week). In the case of a 90 watt fridge, it would be 90 watt-hours per hour; a 120 watt fridge would be 120 watt hours per hour. Simple! A kilowatt is 1000 watt hours. You can obtain cost per kilowatt hour from your local utility company.

For those who are curious, energy usage for a mini fridge is very comparable to that of an average desktop computer. And energy usage for a full-sized fridge, as you might expect, is significantly greater, up to 700 kilowatts per year more, or up to $80 for similar usage. The problem is that full-sized fridges usually remain on constantly; in other words, they are energy-intensive beasts! You could run 5 mini fridges full-time for about the same cost as one full-size refrigerator!