Marathon MAR86W: running cost
The Marathon MAR86W is certified by ENERGY STAR at 235 kWh a year, one of the cheaper models in its category to run among refrigerators currently certified.
That $44 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.
Efficient, or not, for a refrigerator
Against the category average of 386 kWh/yr, this model uses 39.1% less, ranking 968 of 4,704 refrigerators tracked here for running cost. That average is drawn from all 4,704 refrigerators ENERGY STAR currently certifies, not an outside number, a $28/year gap from this model at the national rate. Full sourcing is in the sourcing notes.
Right next to it on the list
A rank or two either side of the Marathon MAR86W: Marathon MAR86BLS ($44/yr, 235 kWh/yr), then Yeego YG-WD428 ($44/yr, 235 kWh/yr).
Same brand, different models
Ranked 15 of Marathon's 57 certified refrigerators, this sits between the M4-100BLS ($25/yr, the brand's cheapest) and the MFF208WFD-2 ($87/yr, its priciest).
Marathon MAR86W over 13 years
NAHB's Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components puts a typical refrigerator's service life at 13 years; run the Marathon MAR86W that long and it costs about $574 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Shopping for a new one
Efficient as certified refrigerators go, $44/year is a reasonable baseline if you're comparing what else is on the market.
Worth comparing a few current certified models before deciding.
If you're keeping it
$44/year to run is the predictable cost of the Marathon MAR86W; a protection plan covers the unpredictable one, a repair bill.
Where this number comes from
At rank 968 of 4,704 for running cost, see the refrigerator category page for the rest of the field, or the guide to how much your state matters. The 235 kWh/yr figure is ENERGY STAR's own certification, not a wattage estimate; exact dataset IDs are on the data sources page.