What the Royal Sovereign RMF-128*** costs to run
ENERGY STAR certifies the Royal Sovereign RMF-128*** at 226 kWh/yr, one of the cheaper models in its category to run for its category.
That $42 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 41.5% less, ranking 836 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 $30/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 Royal Sovereign RMF-128***: Professional Series PS-CRF949US-IN ($42/yr, 226 kWh/yr), then TCL TRM45S4AW ($42/yr, 226 kWh/yr).
Same brand, different models
Ranked 2 of Royal Sovereign's 3 certified refrigerators, this sits between the RMF-74*** ($40/yr, the brand's cheapest) and the RMF-90*** ($60/yr, its priciest).
What this adds up to over time
NAHB's Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components puts a typical refrigerator's service life at 13 years; run the Royal Sovereign RMF-128*** that long and it costs about $552 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Shopping for a new one
Efficient as certified refrigerators go, $42/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
A refrigerator like the Royal Sovereign RMF-128*** is a real household expense whether or not it needs replacing yet; a protection plan is one way to budget for a repair rather than a full replacement.
Where this number comes from
Two sourced numbers, nothing modeled: ENERGY STAR's certified kWh/yr for this exact model, and EIA's published state electricity rate. At rank 836 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.