Where this list comes from
The government's energyrating.gov.au registration database lists every fridge model registered for sale in Australia under the mandatory energy-label scheme, each tested the same way, on the same standard. It also lists chest freezers, upright freezers and wine cabinets in the same resource, which is why this page does not simply rank “fridges”: a 200 L chest freezer topping a fridge league would tell you nothing useful. The class here is the registry's own fridge-freezer designation, the top-mount, bottom-mount and side-by-side cabinets most Australian kitchens actually have, held to 400–500 L of total volume.
That band is the biggest single 100-litre group among registered fridge-freezers, 514 of the 1,911 on the market, the same “biggest fair-comparison group” rule our washing machine, dishwasher and dryer league tables already use for their own capacity classes. This table ranks all 514 by their labelled kWh-per-year figure and lists the 10 cheapest, one row per genuinely distinct model, since a handful of colour-code variants of the same physical cabinet are shown once rather than repeated.
A fridge is a different kind of purchase from the other three appliances we rank here. A washing machine's figure is per load and a dishwasher's is per cycle, so what those machines cost you depends on how often you run them. A fridge never switches off. The registry's figure for it is already kilowatt-hours for a full year of continuous running, so the yearly cost below is that figure multiplied by your rate, with no assumption about your habits anywhere in the chain. You pick a fridge once and then pay for that choice every day for a decade or more, which is why the model on the sticker matters more here than anything you do with it.
The ranking is also the same in every state. Rank comes from the registry's tested kWh figure, and your state only sets the price of a kilowatt-hour, so a different tariff moves every dollar below by the same proportion and leaves the order untouched. These are the cheapest models to run wherever you live.
What it actually costs
The 10 cheapest-to-run 400–500 L fridges currently in the government's registry, running around the clock on New South Wales's reference rate.
These dollars follow the location you set in the header, and the ranking does not. A different rate moves every row by the same proportion, so it can never move a model up or down the ranking. Tied models share a rank, so ten rows run to eight rank numbers (two pairs tie) rather than eight models being left out.
| Rank and model | Capacity and kWh/yr | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1. HISENSE HRBM418E | 417 L · 153 kWh/yr | $49.57/year |
| 2. Haier HRF420BEC | 433 L · 155 kWh/yr | $50.22/year |
| 3. HISENSE HRBM418D | 417 L · 187 kWh/yr | $60.59/year |
| 4. LIEBHERR CBNsdh 7653 | 423 L · 228 kWh/yr | $73.87/year |
| 5. ELECTROLUX EBE4302 Series | 425 L · 232 kWh/yr | $75.17/year |
| 6. MIELE KFN 4776 ED | 433 L · 241 kWh/yr | $78.08/year |
| 7. Kogan KAT412BMFW Series | 412 L · 249 kWh/yr | $80.68/year |
| 7. TCL C440BF Series | 412 L · 249 kWh/yr | $80.68/year |
| 8. HISENSE HRBM483B | 483 L · 251 kWh/yr | $81.32/year |
| 8. HISENSE HRBMFF453B | 419 L · 251 kWh/yr | $81.32/year |
Ranked by the registry's own kWh-per-year test figure, cheapest first. Same-design colour-code variants of one cabinet are shown once. Running cost only: purchase price isn't priced here.
What the ranking shows, and what it doesn’t
The 10 cheapest models run $49.57 to $81.32 a year. The median fridge in the same size class runs $108.86, and the least efficient one registered at this capacity runs $158.76, 3.2 times the cheapest model on the list. That is a $109-a-year gap between two fridges that hold the same amount of food and sit in the same size hole in the same kitchen. Over the ten to fifteen years a fridge typically lasts, and if today’s rate held the whole time, that is roughly $1,092 to $1,638. That is enough money to move a shortlist, and it is not a figure any showroom ticket carries.
Capacity does not predict the answer inside this band. The Hisense HRBM483B holds 483 L and the HRBMFF453B holds 419 L, and both test at exactly 251 kWh a year. The two smallest cabinets in the top 10 at 412 L are not the cheapest either: the 417 L Hisense at the top of the table beats them by $31.10 a year. Dropping a size inside this band buys you less fridge and much the same power bill.
The badge on the door does not predict it either. Seven brands hold the ten spots. Hisense takes four of them, and the rest go one apiece to Haier, Liebherr, Electrolux, Miele, Kogan and TCL, so a Kogan and a TCL land $6.80 a year behind a Liebherr and $2.59 behind a Miele. Our guide on whether a premium brand costs less to run finds the same thing in the laundry. The registry records what each model measured, not what it costs to buy or how long it lasts, so treat this as the running-cost half of the decision and price the other half yourself.
Common questions
Does the yearly figure include the freezer?
Yes. Every model here is a fridge-freezer, and the registry tests the whole cabinet as one appliance, so the kWh figure and the dollar figure already cover keeping the freezer compartment cold as well as the fridge. It also means the capacity column is total volume, fridge plus freezer, not fridge alone. What it does not cover is a second appliance: a chest or upright freezer out in the garage is separately registered and separately priced, and our freezer running cost calculator and second-fridge guide handle that one.
Aren't top-mount fridges the cheap ones?
Usually cheaper to buy. At this size they are not cheaper to run. The cheapest top-mount model registered in this 400–500 L class, from the same energyrating.gov.au register extract the table above is drawn from, is the CHIQ CTM408NSS5E (410 L) at 270 kWh a year (registry figure, top-mount models only, outside the top 10 so it has no row above), $87.48, which is more than every single model in the top 10 above and $37.91 a year more than the cheapest. Where the freezer sits is a kitchen-layout question, and it will not save you anything on the bill.
Is a cheaper-to-run fridge worth paying extra for?
That depends on the price gap, which we deliberately do not hold: every figure on this page is running cost from the government's own test, and no retail prices go into the ranking. What the numbers do tell you is what is at stake. Moving from a median fridge in this class to the model at the top of this table saves $59.29 a year, so a fridge kept twelve years earns back roughly $712. Any purchase premium smaller than that is worth paying on the running-cost maths alone; anything much larger is not.
Why do some rows show exactly the same yearly cost?
Because those models genuinely tie on the figure being ranked. The registry publishes a whole-number kWh-per-year result, and two different cabinets can land on the same one: the Kogan and the TCL both test at 249 kWh a year, and the two Hisense models at the foot of the table both test at 251. They are separate registered test results, not one cabinet listed twice. Where this site numbers ranks, tied models share one rank number rather than being split into separate places, because splitting them would invent a precision the test result does not have.
Sources
Per-model kWh-per-year, total volume and product designation for the 400–500 L fridge-freezer comparison: the energyrating.gov.au registration database (July 2026 snapshot) our fridge running cost calculator's own model finder uses, filtered to the 514 currently registered fridge-freezers between 400 and 500 L, and re-checked against the live August 2026 registry release. The CHIQ CTM408NSS5E figure cited in the questions below comes from that same extract, filtered to top-mount models only; it sits outside the top 10 and so has no row in the table above. Electricity rates: the AER Default Market Offer, the Victorian Default Offer and each remaining state's regulated reference tariff, current for 2026–27. The page is served on New South Wales' rate and switches to yours when you set a location, from the same rate table every calculator on this site uses. This guide is general information, not a recommendation to buy any specific model; check current retail availability and price before deciding. All fetched July 2026.