01 / Your decision
Authority and a
clear buying route.
Legal customer, governing powers, available routes and an appropriate approval record.
Who can commit the school? →Choose the buying route →Explain the recommendation →School Connection / Independent Schools & Boarding / Energy Buying
The independent schools energy buying programme
Buy for the school
you actually run.
Manage the value.
For bursars, finance and estates teams, governors and proprietors. Connect current analysis, practical guides, worked school files and editable records with your operating plans, cash flow and energy decision, then manage the agreement throughout its term.
Day and prep schools, boarding and mixed campuses, specialist settings and groups.
Coverage from 1 October 2026 · Prepared and checked 3 November.
Start here / Your school and its setting
Your operating model.
Your next step.
Choose the closest starting point. Your legal entity, nation and actual activities determine the detail. A group may include several operating models.
Choose your school’s starting point.
Then follow six milestones. Each identifies the task, the record to keep and the next resource to use.
Record every relevant nation for a group. Read the applicability guide →
Contract ending soon? Confirm the current position, deadlines and the person who can act.Use the immediate-action guide →
Your buying journey / Six practical milestones
Make progress.
Keep a useful record.
Use the guide for the decision in front of you. Return to the journey when that task is complete.
The record at the heart of your journey
The bursar’s
decision paper.
Explain the options, full cost, service, terms and uncertainties in a paper the governing body or proprietor can assess.
Includes a fictional completed example and an editable blank paper.
- Who is buying, and who can approve and accept?
- What does the school need during the proposed term?
- Why do the chosen route, support and agreement represent value?
- What remains unresolved, who owns it and when must it be addressed?
Check the evidence behind your decisionOpen when you are ready to reference records, assign unresolved questions and prepare the school’s review.
Evidence at the finish / Your independent school
Understand the options.
Explain the choice.
Locate the supporting work and keep conditions visible. Field completion does not inspect your records or approve a contract.
“I understand our options, can explain our choice, have the supporting records, and know what needs resolving before we commit.”
Latest analysis / 4 November 2026
What reaches the invoice,
and what reaches your budget?
A current briefing for bursars and governors: trace the effect through the agreement, supplier payment, tax record and financial plan.
Read the new feature →School Connection / The independent-school energy briefingCoverage from 1 October · Prepared 3 November 2026
The pressures.
The buying consequences.
The four opening features turn the current context into school-specific questions, a practical guide and a next action.
The permanent programme / Guidance that leads to action
Use the resource
that moves you forward.
The full detail stays within reach. Start with your immediate decision rather than reading every guide in sequence.
Authority and a
02 / Complete cost
Cash flow,
tax and contract risk.
Understand what the school pays, what it can recover and what the agreement can change.
Three separate tax checks →Compare cash and net cost →Contract structure and length →03 / The whole service
Useful support
between renewals.
Specify specialist help with site review, bills, metering and consumption. Agree the outputs, fees and school responsibilities, then check the work and its results.
Assess and brief an adviser →Specify the continuing service →Measure the value fairly →04 / Evidence and support
Examples,
findings and answers.
Use fictional files to understand the method and primary cases to examine the limits of reported results.
Follow a worked buying file →Read the independent-school findings →Search the programme’s answers →Follow a complete worked buying fileThree fictional schools show the requirement, offers, fees, tax assumptions, risks and conditions together.
Applied buying / Fictional teaching examples
See how the
pieces fit together.
Rates, schools, tax percentages and results are invented for teaching. They are separate from actual reported school experience.
A fall in pupil numbers is not automatically the same percentage fall in energy. The examples test supported changes and keep unknown contractual adjustments visible.
Understand contracts and compare complete costsOpen the detail when you are ready to examine duration, fees, VAT, cash flow and uncertainty.
Put the guidance to work / Educational comparison
The cost of the agreement.
The cash it requires.
Begin with the annual illustration. Use the dated-meter laboratory and workbook when you need component and period detail.
Explore cash payments and net cost
One illustrative electricity requirement. Every charge and tax assumption must be explicit. The model does not classify supplies or establish VAT recovery.
Examples use invented 20% supply and fee VAT and different recovery assumptions. These are not findings about current eligibility or future tax rates.
Consumption sensitivity is arithmetic under unchanged entered rates. Volume adjustments, exit costs and other unknown contractual consequences remain unpriced. The result does not select an offer or certify value or compliance.
Browse all guides findings and downloadsThe complete reference library, reading editions and editable working records.
The full reference library
Find the guide for
your next decision.
Every resource includes source links and limits. Your school’s own documents provide the evidence for its decision.
Download and work with your team
Useful in the meeting.
Ready for the next task.
Reading editions and editable records are available to download for use with your team.
Published edition, 3 November 2026. The programme guide, editorial collection, working records and decision paper were revised on 5 November. Other reading editions retain the opening collection and their own dates. Additional November features and charge checks are available online and can be printed from their pages. Recheck rules, tax and current written terms before a school decision. The school retains responsibility for authority and acceptance.
Answers connected to the guidance
What do you need
to understand?
Search in your own words. Try “VAT recovery”, “one adviser”, “boarding”, “group” or “ending a contract”.
Ask the editorial deskExplain the point you need to resolve. Your question is saved for School Connection to review.
Support / The point that still needs an answer
Give the next
question a clear brief.
Explain the decision you face, the uncertainty and any relevant deadline.
Leave out pupil information, account numbers, confidential bills and contracts. Keep your own procurement deadlines under review. This form does not provide urgent advice or approve a buying decision.
Your details are used to review and respond to your question. Requesting a possible introduction starts a discussion; this form does not send your details to a specialist.
Evidence and independence
Evidence that helps
you judge the choice.
Requirements, reported school experience, hypothetical examples and our interpretation keep their own labels.
Use the right scope.
The legal buyer, nation, energy market, actual activities and applicable duties determine the requirements. The programme does not assume every independent school follows one route.
Inspect the result.
School-reported and provider-reported outcomes remain attributed. We do not claim that appointing a TPI caused savings without evidence. Fictional files teach the method.
Keep control.
Sources support the guidance. The school owns its comparison, supporting records and decision. Completing the tools does not establish compliance or authorise acceptance.
Connected to the live Independent Schools & Boarding section ↗. This is the dedicated independent-school energy buying programme. Solar PPA remains a separate programme.