The honest answer is printed on the fridge. Every fridge sold in Australia carries an Energy Rating Label, and the number that matters on a fridge energy rating label is the kWh per year figure under the stars. Multiply it by your electricity rate and you have the fridge running cost. The worked example on energyrating.gov.au is a fridge rated at 458 kWh a year at $0.307 per kWh, about $140.61 a year. The catch is that the label describes a fridge in good working order. A tired door seal, an iced-up evaporator or a dusty condenser pushes the real figure past the label.
Our full guide to Perth appliance running costs in 2026 covers the July price change in detail. This one stays on the fridge: the label, the meter test, and the faults that make a cheap fridge expensive.
How much electricity does a fridge use? Start with the label
The Energy Rating Label is regulated by the GEMS Regulator and has been on fridges since the mid 1990s. It shows two things: a star rating, 1 to 6 stars with a super efficiency label running to 10, which compares a fridge with others of similar size and features, and the kWh per year figure, the annual energy consumption from standardised testing. Stars say how a fridge compares with its peers. The kWh figure says what it costs to run.
The fridge comparison on energyrating.gov.au makes the point. For an upright 350 litre fridge, Fridge A with three stars is rated at 349 kWh a year and Fridge B with six stars at 187 kWh. YourHome, the Australian Government’s guide to sustainable homes, adds that fridges and freezers can be up to 10 per cent of household energy use.
Working out your fridge running cost on a Perth tariff
The formula from energyrating.gov.au is one line: the annual kWh on the label multiplied by your tariff per kWh. Their example, 458 kWh at $0.307, gives about $140.61 a year.
Most Perth households are on the Synergy Home Plan (A1), and Synergy’s published price changes put the usage rate at 33.2621 cents per unit from 1 July 2026. On that rate the 458 kWh fridge comes to about $152.34 a year (458 multiplied by $0.332621). Fridge A at 349 kWh costs about $116.08 a year and Fridge B at 187 kWh about $62.20, a gap of about $53.88 every year for the same 350 litres of cold space. These are an illustration on the published usage rate: your bill also carries the daily supply charge, and a different plan moves the numbers.
Why the label figure is only a starting point
The label kWh assumes typical use, and heavier use means a higher real cost. A fridge in a busy family home is opened far more often than one in a couple’s apartment, and a garage fridge in a Perth summer works much harder than one in an air-conditioned kitchen. To learn what yours really draws, put a plug-in power meter between the wall and the fridge cord for a full week, then scale the week up to a year. A big gap means something is making the fridge work harder than it should.
The faults that make a fridge use more power than its label
It is nearly always one of five things, and the first four you can check yourself.
A tired door seal. Once the gasket hardens, splits or stops gripping, warm humid air leaks in around the clock and the compressor runs longer to make up for it. Close the door on a sheet of paper: if it slides out with no resistance, the seal has failed there. A split one needs replacing, and our guide to fridge door seal replacement walks through it.
An iced-up evaporator. The evaporator is the cold coil behind the freezer’s back panel. When the defrost system falls behind, ice builds over it until it insulates the very thing that makes the cold. A one-off build-up clears with a full defrost; ice that returns within weeks points to a defrost heater, timer or sensor fault.
A dusty condenser. The condenser coils at the back or underneath shed the heat pulled out of the cabinet. Coat them in dust, pet hair and kitchen grease and the compressor works longer and hotter. This is the cheapest fix on the list.
The wrong temperature setting. Every notch colder than the food needs is extra running time. Our guide on what temperature a fridge should be covers the safe range and how to check it with a thermometer.
A hot location. A fridge jammed against an oven, in a west-facing window or shut in an unventilated shed is fighting the room as well as its contents. Give it clear space and shade.
Coils, seals and settings: what you can check yourself
Switch the fridge off at the wall, pull it out and vacuum the condenser coils with a brush attachment. Leave a hand’s width of clear space behind and above it when you push it back. Wipe and dry the door seals and do the paper test all the way around. Set the temperature with a thermometer. Defrost fully if there is ice on the freezer walls, and thin out overpacked shelves so air can move. Those checks take an afternoon, and if you ran the power meter beforehand, run it again a week later and compare.
When to call a technician, and when a repair pays for itself
Seals, coils, settings, levelling and defrosting are yours. Anything sealed or electrical is a licensed technician’s job: a compressor that runs without stopping or cycles every few minutes, an evaporator that ices over again straight after a defrost, a control board or thermostat that no longer responds, and anything involving refrigerant. A fridge with a sealed-system or electrical fault keeps drawing more power than it should until it is repaired.
The label kWh through the formula is what the fridge should cost each year. A meter on it is what it does cost. The difference is the price of the fault, paid every year the fault stays. A door seal, a defrost part or a fan is a modest job set against a new fridge, and once it is fixed the running cost falls back toward the label. Fridges commonly run 10 to 15 years: inside that range a worn seal is a repair, while a fridge well beyond it that needs a sealed-system repair is usually a replacement, and the kWh line on the new label is the one to shop by.
That is where our team comes in. CAI Appliance Services repairs fridges across Perth, with fully qualified mobile technicians who come to you. We are an authorised service agent for Bosch and Electrolux, and we repair all major brands including LG, Samsung, Miele, Fisher and Paykel, Smeg and Whirlpool, so the work is done with the correct parts. Call CAI on 0415 343 413 to book a technician.
How Much Electricity Does a Fridge Use?: the quick version
Save or print this checklist before you book.
Frequently asked questions
How much electricity does a fridge use per day?
Does an old fridge use more electricity than a new one?
Is a second fridge in the garage expensive to run?
Will a new door seal lower my fridge power consumption?
For the whole-house picture, read our full guide to Perth appliance running costs in 2026, then check what temperature a fridge should be and how fridge door seal replacement works, or book a Perth technician with CAI.
