Model
Midea MRU17F5A**
Rank #390 means 389 of the 622 freezer models we track cost less to run each year; the 75th efficiency percentile means it uses less energy for its size than 75% of those models.
What does the Midea MRU17F5A** cost to run per year?
Among the 622 freezer models we track, the Midea MRU17F5A**'s $81/yr running cost ranks it #390, in the above-average-cost group. It uses 11% less energy than the U.S. federal standard model in its class, which would cost about $91/yr to run, a saving of roughly $10 a year. Efficiency-wise, once size is accounted for, it edges out 75% of the class, a modestly above-average showing. This class has no published efficiency-factor figure beyond annual kWh itself, so at 17 cu ft (the class spans 1.1 to 23), size is the clearest lever we can point to for this model's running cost.
Immediately around it on the leaderboard, the Liebherr MF2451 at $81/yr runs a little cheaper and the Midea MRU17F6A** at $81/yr runs a little more, a sense of how tightly models are packed at this point in the ranking. A freezer typically stays in service for somewhere around 14 years; over that span, the Midea MRU17F5A**'s $81/yr adds up to roughly $1134 in electricity alone, before purchase price or repairs.
By the numbers
The Midea MRU17F5A** normalized against its whole class, so each figure means something.
What it costs you over time
Running cost is an every-year number, so it compounds. At $81/yr, here is what the Midea MRU17F5A** adds up to before purchase price, water, or repairs enter the math.
Left running for a decade at today's US average rate, the Midea MRU17F5A** costs about $810. That is roughly $100 less than a standard model in its class, which would run closer to $910 over the same ten years.
How the Midea MRU17F5A** compares
The freezer class we track runs from $25 to $120 a year. At $81/yr, it runs about $6 a year above the class median of $75, and it is about $56 a year more than the cheapest freezer to run at $25. Against the US federal standard model for its class at about $91/yr, the Midea MRU17F5A** uses 11% less energy.
What drives its running cost
At 17 cu ft, the Midea MRU17F5A** is a large freezer for its class, which spans 1.1 to 23 cu ft with a median of 13.8 cu ft, and larger freezer models generally cost more to run than smaller ones in the same class, simply because there is more to keep cold, spin, heat, or light.
- Interior volume. As with refrigerators, more cubic feet of frozen storage generally means a bigger compressor and a higher annual energy figure.
- Insulation and defrost type. Better-insulated cabinets lose less cold to the surrounding room, and frost-free (automatic-defrost) freezers run a periodic heating element that a manual-defrost model does not.
- Chest vs upright design. Door orientation affects how much cold air escapes per opening: top-opening chest designs generally hold cold better than front-opening upright ones.
Common questions
Is the Midea MRU17F5A** cheap to run?
Its $81/yr running cost, rank #390 of 622, is above what most freezer models we track cost to run, so this is not one of the cheaper picks on electricity alone.
How much does the Midea MRU17F5A** cost per month?
About $6.77 a month, which is the $81 annual estimate spread across twelve months at the US average rate of $0.1856/kWh. Your own bill scales with your local electricity rate and how heavily you use it.
How is this running-cost figure calculated?
The formula is annual kWh times price per kWh: 438 kWh from ENERGY STAR times the US average of $0.1856/kWh comes to about $81 a year. It covers electricity only, not the purchase price, water, or installation.
How efficient is the Midea MRU17F5A** for its size?
75th percentile once size is factored in. That means its size-adjusted efficiency is a real factor in the running-cost figure above; its capacity plays a large role too.
Cheaper to run in the same class
| Rank | Model | Cost/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 389 | Liebherr MF245111.5 cu ft | $81 |
| 388 | L2 LRU17B6A**17 cu ft | $81 |
| 387 | L2 LRU17B6***17 cu ft | $81 |
| 386 | Insignia NS-UZ17WH0-C*17 cu ft | $81 |
| 385 | Insignia NS-UZ17WH017 cu ft | $81 |
Source
ES_1030337_MRU17F5A**_093020240641828_3842718View certified freezer listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Midea and MRU17F5A** are used here for identification only and are not endorsements. Figures are computed by WattWise Labs from public ENERGY STAR data, not measured in our own lab.