To pump the refrigerant through the pipes that take the heat away. And power the little light that we use to find stuff.
Propane-based fridges don’t use power. They have a small pilot at the bottom of the cooling system that heats the refrigerant so that it evaporates, condenses at the top, and then circulates and takes heat out of the cooling compartment.
The system needs something to force the refrigerant to circulate, be it electricity to power a pump or a heat source to cause the evaporation-condensation cycle.
Edit because I forgot a word.
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