Kenmore 7231# Running Cost (Refrigerator)
What the Kenmore 7231# costs to run
ENERGY STAR certifies the Kenmore 7231# at 448 kWh/yr, more expensive than most models in its category to run for its category.
The $84 figure above uses the simple average of all 51 published state rates. Pick your state for the real number.
Where this ranks
That's 16.1% above the refrigerator category average of 386 kWh/yr, and ranks 3,168 of 4,704 certified refrigerators for annual running cost, 1 being cheapest. Every one of the 4,704 currently-certified refrigerators feeds that average, putting this model about $12/year over it. See how it's calculated on the how it is calculated page.
The closest alternatives by cost
Sorted by running cost among refrigerators, one step cheaper is Haier HRQ16N3B ($84/yr, 448 kWh/yr), and one step pricier is Kenmore 899.7231#32# ($84/yr, 448 kWh/yr).
Same brand, different models
Kenmore makes 93 ENERGY STAR certified refrigerators; this one ranks 58 of 93 for running cost, between the brand's cheapest, the 17764 at $39/yr, and its priciest, the 46-75625 at $140/yr.
Cost over its typical lifespan
NAHB's Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components puts a typical refrigerator's service life at 13 years; run the Kenmore 7231# that long and it costs about $1,095 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Is it worth replacing?
The Kenmore 7231# runs above its category average. If the refrigerator you actually own is older still, likely well past ENERGY STAR's efficiency baseline when it was made, a current certified model could cost meaningfully less than this model's $84/year every year.
Worth comparing a few current certified models before deciding.
Protecting what you have
The Kenmore 7231# already costs $84/year to run; a repair bill on top of that is the kind of expense a protection plan exists to smooth out.
The data behind this page
Ranked 3,168 of 4,704, the Kenmore 7231# sits in the middle of the refrigerator category, see the guide to why your state changes this number for the other half of the math. The 448 kWh/yr figure is ENERGY STAR's own certification, not a wattage estimate; exact dataset IDs are on the data sources page.