upstreman BC-396: running cost
The upstreman BC-396 is certified by ENERGY STAR at 269 kWh a year, one of the cheaper models in its category to run among refrigerators currently certified.
That $51 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 upstreman BC-396 compares to other refrigerators
Against the category average of 386 kWh/yr, this model uses 30.3% less, ranking 1,430 of 4,704 refrigerators tracked here for running cost. 4,704 certified refrigerators, one average, about $22/year of daylight between it and this model; the full methodology has the rest.
Neighbouring models
Right next to the upstreman BC-396 on that list: TRUARCTIC THRR14420SS ($51/yr, 269 kWh/yr) runs slightly less, while Vesta Labrador 20WH ($51/yr, 269 kWh/yr) runs slightly more.
Within the upstreman lineup
Ranked 89 of upstreman's 115 certified refrigerators, this sits between the FR17-Blue ($39/yr, the brand's cheapest) and the FD182-# ($86/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 upstreman BC-396 that long and it costs about $657 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Weighing a replacement
Efficient as certified refrigerators go, $51/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
Whether or not the upstreman BC-396 ever needs replacing, a repair is the more common failure for a refrigerator, one a protection plan budgets for ahead of time.
How this was checked
Two sourced numbers, nothing modeled: ENERGY STAR's certified kWh/yr for this exact model, and EIA's published state electricity rate. The full Refrigerator category page shows all 4,704 refrigerators ranked by cost; the state-rate guide covers the half of this number that isn't the appliance.