How much does it cost to run a chest freezer per month in the UK?
A 298 litre chest freezer rated at 231 kilowatt hours a year costs £5.03 a month at the current Ofgem cap rate of 26.11p per kWh, which is 16.5p a day or £60.31 over a full year. A small 104 litre model drops to £4.63 a month, and an older unit using 400 kilowatt hours a year costs £8.70.
Why a chest freezer has no useful wattage
Look for a wattage on a chest freezer and you will be disappointed. The compressor only runs when the thermostat calls for it, which on a healthy unit in a cool room is roughly a quarter of the day, so the number on the motor plate tells you what it draws while running rather than what it costs you.
The figure that matters is the one on the energy label, which is tested annual consumption in kilowatt hours. Beko publishes it for every model. The slimline CF374 holds 104 litres and is rated at 213 kilowatt hours a year in class F. The 298 litre CF41186 is rated at 231 kilowatt hours in class E. The frost free CF1100AP is rated at 288, and the older CHX128, still sold with an A plus label, is rated at 318.
Those four numbers between them cover most of what people actually buy, and the spread between the smallest and the thirstiest is smaller than most shoppers expect. The label figure comes from a test at a fixed room temperature, so a freezer standing in a warm utility room will use a little more than its label says and one in a cool garage will use a little less.
The sum, worked in full
Take the 298 litre model at 231 kilowatt hours a year. Divide by twelve and you get 19.25 kilowatt hours a month. Multiply that by the Ofgem cap rate of 26.11 pence and the answer is £5.03.
Per day it is 231 divided by 365, which is 0.63 kilowatt hours, or 16.5p. Over a full year it is £60.31. Nothing in that calculation is hidden, and if your own label says something different you can swap the number straight in.
Work it out for your own chest freezer
Type in the wattage from the plate on the back, then your own unit rate. The numbers update as you type.
The calculator above is prefilled with 26 watts and 24 hours rather than a compressor rating, because 26 watts running all day is what 231 kilowatt hours a year actually averages out to.
What each size costs a month
| Model | Rated kWh a year | Per day | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beko CF374, 104 litres, class F | 213 | 15.2p | £4.63 | £55.61 |
| Beko CF41186, 298 litres, class E | 231 | 16.5p | £5.03 | £60.31 |
| Beko CF1100AP frost free, class F | 288 | 20.6p | £6.27 | £75.20 |
| Beko CHX128, A plus on the old label | 318 | 22.7p | £6.92 | £83.03 |
| Fifteen year old garage freezer | 400 | 28.6p | £8.70 | £104.44 |
| Appliance | Typical draw | Usage we assume | Per hour (UK) | Per usage (UK) | Per month (UK) | Per hour (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest freezer | 231 kWh a year | per year, compressor cycling included | 0.69p | £60.31 | £5.03 | 0.48 cents |
Rates: Ofgem cap 1 July to 30 September 2026 at 26.11p per kWh (source), EIA residential average June 2026 at 18.34 cents per kWh (source). Checked 2026-09-22.
For readers in the United States the same 231 kilowatt hours a year costs $3.53 a month, or $42.37 across the year, using the EIA residential average of 18.34 cents per kilowatt hour. A state rate changes that quickly. At the California average of 34.74 cents the same freezer costs $6.69 a month, and in Texas at 15.94 cents it costs $3.07.
Six things that genuinely move the number
- Keep it reasonably full. Frozen food holds cold, air does not, so a packed cabinet recovers faster every time the lid goes up. Bottles of water fill the gap if you are short of food.
- Defrost it once the ice is thicker than about five millimetres. Frost sits between the food and the cold wall and forces the compressor to run longer for the same result.
- Check the lid seal with a sheet of paper. Close the lid on it and pull. If it slides out without resistance the seal has gone soft and warm air is leaking in all day.
- Give it air. A chest freezer pushes heat out through the walls and the back, so leave a hand's width of clearance and keep it away from a boiler, a tumble dryer or a south facing window.
- Set it to minus eighteen and leave it alone. Colder than that keeps food no better and the compressor pays for every extra degree.
- Check the rated ambient range before you put it in an unheated garage. Many freezers are rated down to sixteen degrees or ten degrees only, and below that the thermostat can stop calling for cold while the freezer contents quietly thaw.
Chest freezer against the freezer you already own
A fridge freezer is the honest comparison, because most households considering a chest freezer already have one. The Beko CNG4692V, a 317 litre frost free fridge freezer, is rated at 258 kilowatt hours a year, which is £5.61 a month. The 298 litre chest freezer costs £5.03 for freezer space alone.
Put like that the chest freezer looks poor value, and on a straight kilowatt hour count it is. The reason people still buy them is capacity per pound spent and the way cold air behaves. Cold air is heavy and stays in a chest when the lid opens, while an upright spills it across the kitchen floor every time the door swings.
The real question is not which appliance is cheaper per hour but whether the second freezer earns its five pounds a month. If it lets you buy meat in bulk, batch cook and stop throwing food away, it pays for itself several times over. If it holds two bags of peas and a birthday cake from last year, it is £60 a year for storage you do not need, and the cheapest chest freezer to run is the one you unplug and sell.
Common questions
How much does it cost to run a chest freezer for a year?
A 298 litre model rated at 231 kilowatt hours a year costs £60.31 over twelve months at the Ofgem cap rate of 26.11p per kWh. A 104 litre freezer rated at 213 kilowatt hours comes to £55.61, and a frost free chest freezer rated at 288 kilowatt hours comes to £75.20.
How much does a chest freezer cost to run per hour?
Averaged across the day it is about 0.7p an hour, because 231 kilowatt hours a year is 0.63 kilowatt hours a day and the compressor only runs for part of that time. The hourly figure is not very useful on its own, since nobody switches a freezer off between runs.
Does a small chest freezer use a lot of electricity?
No. The Beko CF374 holds 104 litres and is rated at 213 kilowatt hours a year, which is £4.63 a month. That is less than a fridge freezer costs, and the gap between the smallest and the largest chest freezer on sale is under £2.50 a month.
Is it better to keep a chest freezer full?
Yes, within reason. Frozen food holds its cold far better than air does, so a full cabinet recovers quickly after the lid has been open and the compressor runs for less time. If you have not got the food to fill it, bottles of water do the same job for nothing.