What the Magic Chef MCAR320BE costs to run
At 259 kWh/yr, the Magic Chef MCAR320BE's ENERGY STAR certification puts it one of the cheaper models in its category to run against every other certified refrigerator.
That $49 is priced at 18.8¢/kWh, the average of all 51 state rates this site tracks. Your own state's rate is one click away.
How the Magic Chef MCAR320BE compares to other refrigerators
Against the category average of 386 kWh/yr, this model uses 32.9% less, ranking 1,256 of 4,704 refrigerators tracked here for running cost. 4,704 certified refrigerators, one average, about $24/year of daylight between it and this model; the full methodology has the rest.
Neighbouring models
Right next to the Magic Chef MCAR320BE on that list: Danby or Danby Designer DAR033A1* ($49/yr, 259 kWh/yr) runs slightly less, while Magic Chef MCAR320PSE ($49/yr, 259 kWh/yr) runs slightly more.
Comparing Magic Chef's own models
Ranked 56 of Magic Chef's 121 certified refrigerators, this sits between the MCR16CHB ($39/yr, the brand's cheapest) and the MCBM920W1 ($70/yr, its priciest).
What this adds up to over time
Over the 13-year service life NAHB reports for this category, running the Magic Chef MCAR320BE costs roughly $633 in electricity, separate from the purchase price.
Weighing a replacement
Efficient as certified refrigerators go, $49/year is a reasonable baseline if you're comparing what else is on the market.
Compare current ENERGY STAR certified refrigerators before buying.
If you're keeping it
The Magic Chef MCAR320BE already costs $49/year to run; a repair bill on top of that is the kind of expense a protection plan exists to smooth out.
How this was checked
Ranked 1,256 of 4,704, the Magic Chef MCAR320BE 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 259 kWh/yr figure is ENERGY STAR's own certification, not a wattage estimate; exact dataset IDs are on the data sources page.