What does a chest freezer cost to run?
A second freezer in the garage earns its keep only if you use it — an empty one kept cold for two bags of peas is money for nothing.
Typical model is rated 90W
Price cap is 26.11p
18p per day, 365 days a year, 255 kWh in total — about £6 a month. Costed over 365 days, not the whole year — this is a winter appliance.
A chest freezer is efficient by design — the cold air stays put when you open the lid instead of falling out of a door — so it costs a little less to run than an upright of the same size. But it still runs all year, and a garage freezer in an unheated space actually works harder in a cold snap than people expect, because cheap models are not rated to keep their compressor happy near freezing.
A full freezer is cheaper than an empty one: the frozen mass holds temperature, so the compressor runs less. If you are keeping a big freezer barely stocked, water bottles fill the space for free. And if it is only there for occasional bulk buys, do the sum — the running cost can outweigh the saving.
The short answer: Efficient for its size, but only worth it kept reasonably full. An empty second freezer is pure waste.
What actually helps
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This is the small stuff
Every appliance on this site put together is usually less than a third of a typical energy bill. Heating the house is the rest of it. If the numbers here bothered you, the number that actually matters is what your heating costs — and whether a heat pump would make it better or worse in your particular house.
Work out your heating costOther appliances
Energy figures checked 2026-08-26. Electricity priced at the Ofgem cap for 1 July – 30 September 2026. Your own machine and tariff will differ — put your figures in above.