What does a second fridge/freezer (garage/beer fridge) cost to run?

The garage beer fridge or spare chest freezer is one of the most reliable hidden costs in a New Zealand home. It runs around the clock like the main fridge, but it is often an old, inefficient unit banished to an unheated garage. In winter, cheaper fridges actually struggle in a cold garage, cycling oddly and sometimes letting the freezer thaw.

Because it is out of sight, nobody thinks about it. Yet a second fridge can add $100 or more a year for the sake of keeping a few drinks cold and some overflow frozen. It is the definition of a hidden cost, an old appliance humming away in a room you barely enter, quietly billing you every hour whether it is half-full or empty.

The reason it costs so much is the same reason any fridge costs money, it never switches off, only here you are usually running the least efficient unit in the house. The one that got demoted to the garage precisely because it was old is the one drawing the most power to do the least useful work.

The question worth asking is whether it pays its way. If it is half-empty most of the year, switching it off outside of summer or get-togethers is found money. Unplug it, prop the door open so it does not go musty, and plug it back in the week before Christmas or the big barbecue. That single habit can wipe most of the $100-plus straight off your bill.

If you do need the capacity year-round, replacing a decades-old unit with an efficient modern one often pays back within a few years, because the running-cost gap between an old fridge and a new one is wide enough to fund the upgrade. A full chest freezer also runs more efficiently than a near-empty one, so consolidate rather than spreading food across two barely-used appliances.

This is one of the easiest wins in the whole house, because unlike heating or hot water there is no comfort trade-off, just a rarely-opened box you can switch off. Add a second fridge to the calculator and you will often see it climb surprisingly high up your appliance list, which is exactly why it is worth dealing with.