VIKING VBUI5151GSS Running Cost (Refrigerator)
What the VIKING VBUI5151GSS costs to run
At 209 kWh/yr, the VIKING VBUI5151GSS's ENERGY STAR certification puts it one of the cheaper models in its category to run against every other certified refrigerator.
That $39 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 45.9% less, ranking 483 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 $33/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 VIKING VBUI5151GSS: RCA RFR283-B-BLACK-COM ($39/yr, 209 kWh/yr), then VIKING VWUI5151GSS ($39/yr, 209 kWh/yr).
Comparing VIKING's own models
Ranked 2 of VIKING's 12 certified refrigerators, this sits between the VDUO5241DSS ($37/yr, the brand's cheapest) and the VCSB5483 ($134/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 VIKING VBUI5151GSS that long and it costs about $511 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Shopping for a new one
Efficient as certified refrigerators go, $39/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 VIKING VBUI5151GSS already costs $39/year to run; a repair bill on top of that is the kind of expense a protection plan exists to smooth out.
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. 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.