Reducing Electricity Costs Private Schools
The Smarter Way
We have recently completed a project for a small private school in the Moreton Bay Region
This was a real challenge as we needed all the tools in our tool kit to get the job done and save this school some serious money on their electricity bills.
We tackled this from a few angles and worked in partnership with Electrical Energy Savers to take an holistic approach to reduce energy costs for this client.
This was about energy efficiency, energy tariffs, solar energy, commercial contracts, electricity procurement and just plain common sense and hard work.
We love projects like this!
Case Study: Small Private School Brisbane North
Hands up for Cheaper Electricity
Introduction
Our client manages a small private college with an early learning centre and a primary school.
Their energy auditor introduced us to assist in getting better clarity over rates and contracts.
Challenge
As with many organisations, procurement responsibility had passed hands over the years from various school principles to finance managers.
The energy contract, set up by a broker and signed for a 4-year term, was not fit for purpose due to:
- Solar was already installed on both schools but was not factored into the commercial contract.
- The broker set up commercial contracts for both schools.
- A commercial contract was not fit for the smaller school’s purpose as it was a small user and should have been on a small business plan only.
- The school would incur financial penalties if they tried to cancel this contract.
Solution
- Our first engagement was to deliver a workshop for the school Principal and Finance Manager to discuss the best strategy to reduce overall energy costs.
- We broke down all cost elements for each site and compared usage year on year to establish the types of agreements and tariffs that would be the best fit.
- The end result was an overall energy cost management strategy with support to implement the steps required to reduce their electricity bills.
- We arranged direct access to the schools’ electricity bills and energy data.
- We requested a change to the network tariff for one site.
- We negotiated a variation to the commercial contract to include a solar feed-in tariff on both accounts.
Benefits Delivered
The benefits of engaging WiseUp were realised in the following areas noting that cost and contract management benefits are priceless.
Cost Savings for Electricity Bills
- Changes to the network tariff, saving $6,402 per annum ongoing.
- Solar feed-in tariff now being credited to both accounts $ 6,500 pa ongoing.
Cost and Contract Management
The client now has full visibility of the school’s energy costs and a plan for the end of the commercial contract.
We have provided a step-by-step action plan with key milestone dates projected for 24 months.
They have a deeper understanding of the energy market and can now take a risk-based approach to managing their energy costs well into the future.
