How Much Does an Ice Maker Cost to Run? (2026 Energy Data)

Three tiers of countertop ice maker, all at three hours of daily use (enough to fill the bin once). The compressor in each cycles at roughly 40 percent duty, so the math is watts times hours times 0.4 divided by 1,000, then multiplied by the rate.

Budget 100-watt portables (26 lbs/day capacity): 43.80 kWh a year, $7.91, or 66 cents a month. Standard 150-watt models like the hOmeLabs HME010033N or Frigidaire EFIC117-SS: 65.70 kWh a year, $11.86, or 99 cents a month. Nugget ice makers like the GE Profile Opal 2.0 at 220 watts: 96.36 kWh a year, $17.39, or $1.45 a month.

The Opal costs $5.53 more per year than a standard countertop. Over five years that's $27.65 in electricity, less than a single replacement water filter. The premium for nugget ice shows up in the purchase price, not the electric bill.

Same 150-watt machine at different daily runtimes:

Weekends only (4 hours, two days a week): 24.96 kWh a year, $4.51. Daily use (3 hours a day): 65.70 kWh, $11.86. Heavy entertaining (8 hours a day, every day): 175.20 kWh, $31.62, or $2.64 a month.

Tripling the runtime from 3 to 8 hours nearly triples the annual cost. Every additional hour of daily runtime adds about $3.95 to the yearly bill for a 150-watt model. Even at the heavy end, the annual bill stays below the cost of buying a bag of ice per week from the gas station.

For context: a countertop ice maker running three hours a day uses 65.70 kWh a year. A Wi-Fi router running 24/7 at 10 watts uses 87.6 kWh. The appliance you run three hours a day uses less electricity than the one you never turn off.

A refrigerator with a built-in ice maker uses about 60 to 80 kWh more per year than the same model without one. At 18.05¢/kWh, that's $11 to $14 in incremental electricity. Roughly the same as a countertop on daily use.

If you already have a fridge with an ice maker and the volume is enough, there's no electricity argument for adding a countertop unit. The case for a standalone machine is speed and capacity, not efficiency. Built-in undercounter ice makers are a different product entirely. They run 24 hours a day like a second freezer and typically cost $50 to $100 a year depending on the model and insulation quality.

The 65.70 kWh a year stays constant. Only the rate changes. A 150-watt countertop at daily use costs:

Louisiana (12.44¢/kWh): $8.17. Texas (14.80¢/kWh): $9.72. US average (18.05¢/kWh): $11.86. New York (24.40¢/kWh): $16.03. California (31.01¢/kWh): $20.37. Hawaii (39.79¢/kWh): $26.14.

Hawaii pays 3.2 times what Louisiana pays. The spread is $18 a year, not the kind of difference that changes a purchase decision. For the full 50-state table, see the state rates guide. To run your own numbers with your local rate, use the ice maker calculator.

1. Turn it off when not making ice.This is the single biggest lever. Most countertop units don't have a true auto-shutoff. They sense the bin is full and pause production, but the compressor continues cycling to keep the reservoir cold. A smart plug on a three-hour timer eliminates idle cycling and can cut runtime 60 to 80 percent.

2. Descale the evaporator quarterly.Mineral buildup on the evaporator plates forces the compressor to run longer per cycle. Scaled coils use 15 to 20 percent more energy. At $11.86 a year, that's $1.78 to $2.37 wasted. A five-minute soak in citric acid costs about a dollar and resets efficiency to factory spec.

3. Give it clearance. Countertop ice makers vent waste heat from the back or sides. Pushed against a wall with no airflow, the compressor runs longer to reach target temperature. Two inches of clearance on the vent side is enough.

The most expensive appliances list puts ice makers in context against the household loads that actually move your bill. All rate data in this piece is from the EIA Electric Power Monthly, April 2026 release.