Managing energy use and costs in schools
Monitor your energy use and bills
Check your energy bills when they arrive and try to avoid estimated bills. Monitor your energy use to avoid unnecessary costs.
Why should you monitor your school's energy use?
To find ways to use less energy and see if your efforts to save energy are working, you first need to know how much energy you use. Keeping track of your energy usage helps you do this.
- Establish a baseline and understand your current energy use
- Identify any irregular patterns of use and increases. This is especially important with the recent rise in energy bills and future uncertainty.
- Recognise when a reduction is made and give a sense of accomplishment.
- Is an exciting learning tool and can be incorporated into the curriculum.
Several ways to monitor your energy use
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) devices
Most Oxfordshire schools can now monitor and measure their energy consumption online using recently installed AMR devices.
AMRs give you detailed information about your daily energy consumption. An automatic meter reader or smart meter will help you spot unusual patterns of use, highlight opportunities to be more energy efficient and save money on your energy bills. For example, is the school heating set to come on too early or staying on too late?
Reading meters
Meters not covered by AMR will still need manual meter readings once a month.
Keeping electricity costs down
- Turn off computers and monitors when not in use – they still use power if left on standby
- Turn off lights when not needed
- Turn off equipment overnight and at weekends, such as photocopiers, water coolers, whiteboards, etc.
- Only boil as much water as you need when using a kettle
- Check your 'point of use' water heaters have timers installed. Turn them off at the end of the day and over the weekend if they are not in use.
- Turn off portable electric heaters if they are not needed to avoid unnecessary energy consumption.
Keeping gas costs down
- If a room is too hot during winter, turn the heating down before opening windows.
- Avoid blocking radiators as this reduces the heat emitted.
- Close external doors in cold weather
Saving energy in schools
More tips on saving electricity and gas can be found on the Save School Energy page.
Support managing school energy use
In 2022, a new resource for the Oxfordshire school community was launched – Action on Carbon & Energy in Schools (ACES).
ACES is an energy efficiency support service, funded by Oxfordshire County Council and delivered by Oxford Brookes University & Low Carbon Hub, to help schools in Oxfordshire carry out energy-saving measures that will:
- Cut carbon emissions
- Save money on energy bills
- Make buildings more comfortable and healthier for staff and students
Carbon reduction checklist
As part of the programme, ACES has developed a school energy and carbon reduction checklist to assist schools in evaluating their understanding of energy consumption patterns and identifying improvement areas. Using the checklist will help determine what actions may improve energy efficiency.
The checklist serves as a general overview of the actions that can be taken. Specific guidance can be found on the ACES website.
The ACES team of experts can provide schools with the necessary information and guidance to embark on an energy efficiency journey and offer one-to-one support.
Monitoring and managing energy use
Setting an energy reduction goal
Before reducing your energy use, you must know how much you use.
Once you have conducted some initial monitoring to get an idea of your baseline energy use, set a goal for reducing energy consumption A goal or target provides a clear focus and will enable you to quantify and communicate your progress more efficiently.
Each school is different, but a combination of regular monitoring, energy 'walkarounds' and considering the results of a site survey or energy assessment should provide you with a more unambiguous indication of where energy is being wasted and therefore, what would make a reasonable target to aim for.
Creating an energy management policy for your school
Your school's energy management policy or strategy should set out how your school wishes to reduce its energy consumption and meet your energy reduction goal. Ideally, your policy should be tailored to suit your school's individual needs and resources.
Things to consider when writing a policy statement:
- Who has responsibility for energy?
- How will energy usage be monitored?
- How will potential actions be identified, communicated and actioned?
- Is your school willing to invest:
- Staff resources?
- Financial resources?
- Senior management time?
- How will progress be communicated?
- How will this link to your school's procurement of ICT and the energy efficiency of new equipment?
Read an energy policy sample energy policy (pdf format, 28 KB).
Writing an energy action plan
An energy action plan is vital to your school's energy management strategy. It should summarise the actions you want to take at your school to use energy more efficiently and, where possible, reduce energy consumption.
Use the school's energy and carbon reduction checklist Action on Carbon & Energy in Schools have produced to identify possible actions. The action plan should also help you raise awareness and gain support from the whole school community.
You must monitor your energy use to see how well your action plan works and to check your progress against your targets.
Building fabric improvements and renewable energy
When looking to save energy and reduce energy bills, we recommend following the energy hierarchy approach, which prioritises reducing energy demand in the first instance (e.g. through installing insulation, draught-proofing and LED lighting) before installing renewable energy options to reduce grid supply.
Following the energy hierarchy focuses first on looking for opportunities to reduce demand, i.e., the amount of electricity and heating the school needs. This can include simple to-implement actions such as checking that clocks and timers on boiler controls are set correctly, if bookcases block radiators and for thermostats that are set too high.
Share your energy plan
Recognising that staff and pupils are your biggest asset when driving down energy consumption is essential. Sharing your good news plans and top tips with the school community will help raise awareness and encourage behaviour change.
On average, activities such as leaving lights turned on and equipment on 'stand-by' equates to 10% of your energy consumption. 'Good housekeeping' could be a 'quick win'.
What financial support is available?
Action on Carbon & Energy (ACES )
Contact the ACES energy efficiency support service for guidance on funding options.
Schools Energy Efficiency Loan
Oxfordshire County Council has launched an interest-free Schools Energy Efficiency Loan to enable OCC-maintained schools to finance the installation of energy efficiency measures that will help reduce energy use.
Maintained schools can apply for a loan of up to £70,000 to install LED lighting and solar PV. Since each school has unique energy requirements, schools can choose either LED lighting, solar PV, or both, based on their specific needs and priorities.
Application window
The loan scheme is now closed for applications, which will be reviewed in the order they are received.
Contact ACES for an application pack or to receive further updates.
Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
Central Government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants to public sector bodies, including schools, to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures. Salix Finance Ltd operate the scheme on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Any maintained schools interested in applying for a grant for a heat decarbonisation project should inform the property helpdesk.
Academy Trusts should apply to Salix Finance Ltd for suitable energy efficiency projects.