Most schools currently receive monthly energy bills that identify total consumption but provide ZERO information on when and where energy is being used, and most importantly, how much energy is being wasted, which could be up to 40% of your total consumption, or even more...
Without full visibility of when and where energy is consumed, you will never know how much inefficient usage and wasted energy costs your school.
The best energy savings possible are consumption that does not take place, and only visibility of consumption patterns can provide that information.
Having data about your patterns of consumption will help you make informed decisions about how best to plan the decarbonisation of your school in the most effective way possible and plan for future capital investments including LED lighting, solar and other capital opportunities.
The Energy Reduction Advisory can provide information and guidance about an Energy Efficiency AND Sustainability Learning Resources Investment for your school estate.
Every school estate is different and we will gladly deliver a personalised quotation for a costing for an Energy Monitoring Project within a full "package" (which includes a year's subscription to The Climate Education College, The Climate Leadership Training, certified by Nottingham Trent University with 10 credits towards a masters degree, and more.....).
Energy Bill Validation
Case Study for a large primary school
Refund due to over-billing of up to £10,000
Our delivery partner has been monitoring the energy consumption for this school during 2022, using the Centrica Business Systems equipment and cloud platform, which has collected detailed daily consumption data across the school buildings, generating multiple insights and recommendations about how the school can reduce wastage and improve efficiency of energy consumption.
One further benefit of collecting detailed consumption data is the ability to validate energy bills.
We have recently analysed the May and Nov 22 electricity bills from their supplier. The school was billed for the following consumption in kWh:
May 22 – 9,603 kWh during the day and 1,742 kWh during the night, totalling 11,344 kWh.
Nov 22 - 11,093 kWh during the day and 1,792 kWh during the night, totalling 12,885 kWh.
However, our platform shows actual consumption of 10,410 kWh in May and 11,810 kWh in November.
On this basis, it appears that the school has consistently been overcharged about 9.1% of their total electricity consumption, amounting to 934 kWh in May and 1,076 kWh in November. That amounts to a potential overcharge amount on their electricity consumption worth about £151 in May and £298 in November (due to a rate increase from October 2022).
Our delivery partner is in the process of arranging for the supplier to check the calibration of the meter to confirm whether it has been incorrectly set. Our platform data is based on actual consumption every 10 seconds, so it is highly accurate, whereas incorrect meter settings are very common, so we are confident that the overcharge will be confirmed.
In that event, the school will be eligible to claim a refund against bills paid for the previous 6 years!
Based on their 2022 electricity bills, the overcharge could potentially amount to about 74,000 kWh over the 6 year period. While the actual value of the refund would have to be calculated against the rates per kWh paid every year, based on their 2021/22 electricity rate of around 14p per kWh, the refund value due to the school could amount to as much as £9-10,000 in total!
This analysis is provided as part of the overall monitoring and project management offering by our delivery partner.
We would be delighted to offer the same service to your school.
For further information about the Energy Reduction and climate education offering, please complete the form below and send us you EICR Report, a member of our team will get back to you with a free quotation.
"This is an innovative programme which includes unique data visibility and bespoke high-level Net Zero pathways for schools. This will inform the much needed and highly competitive funding for retrofit applications. The inclusion of lesson plans based around the captured data, means the children will be brought along their school's journey to Net Zero, making for an holistic educational approach." Jan Parnell, Director of Education (2018 to 2022), Hammersmith & Fulham Council, London.
Offering includes equipment, cloud platform and ongoing external project management and support to
identify wastage and inefficient use of energy across the whole school's infrastructure
generate easy-to-use Management Information and recommendations to enable your SLT to make informed decisions about how to improve systems and behaviour to eliminate/minimise wastage
enable ongoing monitoring of impact of process changes and ensure compliance by all staff with sustainable energy policies
engage pupils with practical energy efficiency projects and opportunities, enabling them to view the school's energy use, pinpoint problems and test possible solutions. The energy monitoring system allows students to viewgraphs covering current and historical data to develop a cohesive understanding of elements that affect energy consumption across the school
identify patterns of usage to prioritise investment in renewable capital options to maximise return on investment
generate detailed data of your energy consumption profile over several months to make applications for further capital funding and grants to decarbonise your school much easier and more compelling
validate monthly supplier energy bills to ensure charges accurately reflect actual consumption
Installation of sensors and cloud-based platform to generate real-time detailed visibility of consumption patterns, followed by insights and recommendations to identify and reduce/eliminate wastage and unnecessary consumption and improve overall energy efficiency profile of school estate
The package includes the following components:
Monitoring of electricity consumption for baseload and in hours consumption analysis
Access for SLT, site manager and admin support team, teaching staff and pupils to cloud-based platform powered by Centrica Business Solutions - providing 24 hour visibility of consumption patterns, with integrated management reports and alerts set-up Detailed ongoing real-time analysis and insights to reduce wastage and improve efficiency- including Baseload (out-of-hours) analysis, estimates of potential savings, recommendations for process and behaviour improvements; data analysis and development of data led education resources+ weather station for solar, wind and temperature analysis.
Project management - technical
Initial comprehensive report within 6 weeks after sensor installation on inefficiency/wastage insights and project support to assist with implementation of recommendations, followed by half-termly user friendly Management Information reports to SLT, SMB and site manager to ensure compliance with approved policies and processes
Project management - school support
Account management support including liaison between Hopes technical team and school leadership, support for teachers and staff to implement approved recommendations, monitoring of compliance to support SLT policies and objectives on energy efficiency improvements
Project management - financial
Confirmation of accuracy of metered billing and support to reclaim overcharging if errors are identified (up to 6 years back)
Solar panel monitoring (where panels have already been installed)
Confirmation that PV generation is working correctly, validation of receipts of feed-in revenues where applicable, identification of any anomalies
Gas monitoring (subject to local of gas meter and/or smart meter data)
Baseload analysis and estimate of potential savings and efficiency improvement recommendations - will be included IF sensors can be installed because the gas meter is close to an electrical power source to enable sensor to operate, or if the school has smart meters installed or which can be ordered from your energy supplier
Weather station
This will provide a detailed insight into the environment around the school w hich enables a wide range of comparative analyses to be carried out between say for example how heating costs vary with weather (temperature, wind, solar radiation). As well as providing detailed evidence for the calculation of the amount of solar or wind energy that could be generated on site.
Thermal imaging of school estate
Thermal imaging surveys will highlight where energy is being lost from the building that could otherwise be impossible to find.
Examples include failed double glazing units, poorly insulated walls, poor areas of thermal insulation in the roof space (provided there is a vantage point to see it) and draughty doors and windows.
High level decarbonisation plan and support for future grant applications
Our renewable services delivery partner has substantial experience and expertise to support future grant applications for your school, by providing validation data to maximise the likelihood of success and support in how the applications are presented, including to Salix and for future rounds of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).
How will actual savings be achieved?
Savings to be achieved through technology
Savings to be achieved through behaviour improvements - staff, pupil engagement etc.
- technical resources from the platform, including customisable reports, anomalies insights and immediate alerts for unexpected energy consumption. From the granular analysis, recommendations about time settings of equipment, options for on/off timer switches for individual appliances, potential replacement of high-energy using appliances LED lighting if not currently installed
- insights will empower pupils and staff to become engaged with energy efficiency projects, take action and use the platform data to validate the impact of continued energy consumption behaviours and monitoring any drop-offs in engagement with sustainable behaviours
Learning Resources
The Climate Education College is the streaming home for high-quality professional development in climate education. We provide
Introductory webinar in each module
Training for teachers to become Climate-literate
Sets of weekly learning resources, including:
Lesson Plans
Training videos for teacher use
Powerpoint materials
Pupil Worksheets
Knowledge organisers, keyword cards and vocabulary assessment
Assessment tools
Pupil Tracking sheets
Results tables
Links to additional resources about sustainability operations in real-world applications
Green career information and links
Access to all corporate partnership sustainability resources linked to elements of the National Curriculum
Guidance on how to set up your school's eco-team (created by David Dixon - highly experienced Head Teacher and Sustainability
Green Skills Jobs Fairs - priority access
First preference to host Green Skills Jobs and Skills Fairs at your school, where local and national companies will share information about their sustainability and climate strategies and showcase the range of potential green careers that your pupils may be eligible to access in the future.
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