Model
Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C
Rank #117 means 116 of the 1,000 refrigerator models we track cost less to run each year; the 18th efficiency percentile means it uses less energy for its size than 18% of those models.
What does the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C cost to run per year?
The Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C holds rank #117 of 1,000 on running cost, at about $40 a year, a genuinely cheap result for the class. It uses 12% less energy than the U.S. federal standard model in its class, which would cost about $45/yr to run, a saving of roughly $5 a year. Efficiency-wise, once size is accounted for, it lags most of the class, ahead of only 18% of the models we track. This class has no published efficiency-factor figure beyond annual kWh itself, so at 3.1 cu ft (the class spans 1.2 to 31.7), size is the clearest lever we can point to for this model's running cost.
Immediately around it on the leaderboard, the Frigidaire EFR397-BLACKRGLD-6COM at $40/yr runs a little cheaper and the Hamilton Beach Commercial HRF200R at $40/yr runs a little more, a sense of how tightly models are packed at this point in the ranking. A refrigerator typically stays in service for somewhere around 12 years; over that span, the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C's $40/yr adds up to roughly $480 in electricity alone, before purchase price or repairs.
Also sold as: Arctic Chef ACFR321-WHITE-6COM.
By the numbers
The Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C 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 $40/yr, here is what the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C adds up to before purchase price, water, or repairs enter the math.
Left running for a decade at today's US average rate, the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C costs about $400. That is roughly $50 less than a standard model in its class, which would run closer to $450 over the same ten years.
How the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C compares
The refrigerator class we track runs from $8 to $149 a year. At $40/yr, it runs about $24 a year cheaper than the class median of $64, and it is about $32 a year more than the cheapest refrigerator to run at $8. Against the US federal standard model for its class at about $45/yr, the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C uses 12% less energy.
What drives its running cost
At 3.1 cu ft, the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C is a small refrigerator for its class, which spans 1.2 to 31.7 cu ft with a median of 12.6 cu ft, at the small end of the class, capacity itself is doing a lot of the work to keep that figure down, separate from how efficient the unit actually is.
- Interior volume. More cubic feet of cold air to maintain generally means a bigger compressor and a higher running-cost figure, even among efficient models.
- Counter depth vs standard depth. Standard-depth models generally offer more interior volume per unit of width than counter-depth models, a tradeoff between built-in looks and cubic feet.
- Compressor technology. How a compressor cycles, full on/off versus a variable-speed inverter design, is one of the biggest hidden differences behind two fridges with similar cubic feet but different running costs.
- Placement and ventilation. Ventilation clearance around the back and top matters more than most owners expect; a fridge starved of airflow runs its compressor longer to hold the same temperature.
Common questions
Is the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C cheap to run?
Yes. Its $40/yr running cost puts it at rank #117 of 1,000, below what most refrigerator models we track cost to run.
How much does the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C cost per month?
About $3.33 a month, which is the $40 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: 215 kWh from ENERGY STAR times the US average of $0.1856/kWh comes to about $40 a year. It covers electricity only, not the purchase price, water, or installation.
How efficient is the Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef EFR323-C for its size?
18th percentile once size is factored in. That means its size-adjusted efficiency is not the main reason for the running-cost figure above; its capacity plays a large role too.
Cheaper to run in the same class
Source
ES_1120898_EFR323-C_12222021132553_5503198View certified refrigerator listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Frigidaire;Rca;Hamilton Beach;Montgomery Ward;Arctic Chef and EFR323-C 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.