A comparative analysis was peformed on the operation cost at partial loads between ice storage systems with the two conventional control strategies, i.e., storage priority and chiller priority. The storage priority control is shown to be more economic for small cooling loads, while the chiller priority control is superior when the cooling load is as large as the design value. Based on this finding, a new control strategy is devised for an ice-storage system to minimize the operation cost at any cooling load. The new control strategy is found to be comparable to the chiller priority for large cooling loads, while it is more economic for small loads compared to the conventional control strategies. The practicality of the new control strategy is also confirmed through a performance test applying the new control strategy to an existing ice-storage system.