How much does a refrigerator cost per month in Iowa?

About $5.69 a month, assuming 400 kWh a year at 17.06¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a refrigerator use?

Roughly 400 kWh a year under these assumptions.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Iowa has the 23rd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $72.64 a year.

Home › Refrigerator › Iowa

Cost to run a refrigerator in Iowa (August 2026 rates)

At 17.06¢ per kilowatt-hour — Iowa's average residential price in August 2026 — running a refrigerator costs $68.24 a year. That is 6% less than the national average of $72.64. Iowa's residential rate is up 10.2% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $61.92 to $68.24 a year.

Per day: 18.7¢
Per month: $5.69
Per year: $68.24

Assumption: 400 kWh a year. A current ENERGY STAR top-freezer lands near 400 kWh a year. A 2000s-era side-by-side can be double, and a garage fridge in a hot climate higher still. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Iowa compares

Iowa pays 17.06¢/kWh, the 23rd most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $4.40 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same refrigerator costs $50.88 a year in Nevada and $189 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $138 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
New Mexico	16.51¢	$5.50	$66.04
Indiana	17.02¢	$5.67	$68.08
Iowa	17.06¢	$5.69	$68.24
Colorado	17.17¢	$5.72	$68.68
Minnesota	17.20¢	$5.73	$68.80

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a refrigerator.

What else costs about the same in Iowa

Desktop computer$68.24 a year in IA Air purifier$74.72 a year in IA Electric oven$56.78 a year in IA

Cutting the number down

The second fridge in the garage is often the most expensive appliance in a house, because it is usually the oldest one and it works against garage heat.
Coils packed with dust make the compressor run longer for the same cooling. Vacuuming them takes minutes.
A door gasket that no longer grips a dollar bill is leaking cold around the clock.

Questions

How much does a refrigerator cost per month in Iowa?: About $5.69 a month, assuming 400 kWh a year at 17.06¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a refrigerator use?: Roughly 400 kWh a year under these assumptions.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Iowa has the 23rd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $72.64 a year.