Begin with the work the school needs done

The most useful starting point for an adviser appointment is a description of the school’s needs. A bursar may have the authority and experience to run the buying exercise, while needing specialist help with complex charges or consumption data. Another school may need coordinated support from the first meter review through transfer and ongoing management. These are different requirements and should produce different service briefs.

A school may buy directly, use a suitable purchasing service or appoint a third party intermediary, often called a TPI. Where a framework or buying group is considered, check actual eligibility, terms and services. The appointment should follow a reasoned assessment of the support required and the school’s own decision process. Using a TPI is an option to evaluate, rather than a condition attached to being an independent school.

Give the appointment the right governance foundation

The ordinary fee-funded independent school does not start with the academy-specific requirement to justify an alternative to a DfE-approved energy deal. It starts with its legal buyer, governing arrangements and actual obligations. Public procurement status still needs appropriate assessment: the Cabinet Office’s public-authority test considers whether a person is wholly or mainly funded out of public funds, or subject to public-authority oversight, together with not operating on a commercial basis. The word “independent” alone does not settle that assessment.

For a charitable school in England or Wales, the Charity Commission’s decision-making guidance requires trustees to act within their powers, be sufficiently informed, manage conflicts and keep an appropriate record. A proprietary school or school group must identify its own corporate and delegated authority. Use the relevant national charity and procurement rules where the school operates elsewhere in the UK.

The practical question for the bursar is who can approve this appointment, on what evidence and within which limits. Record that answer before the adviser approaches suppliers on the school’s behalf.

One lead adviser can make coordination easier

Where the school chooses a TPI, our recommended operating approach is one appointed lead adviser working to a common requirement. This can make responsibility for the supplier exercise, information requests and reporting clearer. It does not remove the need to assess the adviser, understand its coverage or challenge its recommendations. The choice of one coordinator is an organisational recommendation, not a statutory rule.

Define the boundaries of that relationship. The school should know which suppliers or products the adviser can access, which were considered for the actual exercise and what was not available. A comparison may be useful without covering the whole market. Claims about coverage should be supported by a dated record, with relevant exclusions explained in the recommendation.

Price the service in pounds the board can understand

Ofgem’s July 2026 good-practice guidance identifies service, principal terms, supplier coverage and remuneration as relevant parts of the customer experience. It describes expectations while new rules are being developed. Read it alongside the evidence about the particular provider and the terms of the proposed appointment.

Ask for direct fees, supplier-paid commission, uplifts, additional work and other benefits to be disclosed clearly. Translate a pence-per-kWh uplift into an estimated total over the proposed term, using an explicit demand assumption. Explain how the payment could change with consumption. If the quoted supply rate includes the uplift, identify it without adding it again to the total.

The school can then discuss the price of the service with its content in view. Several pages of supplier prices do not establish the value of an annual management fee. Conversely, technical work, a responsive account service or a credible consumption programme should be assessed on specified outputs and evidence of capability, rather than dismissed because it is not a tariff reduction.

Keep permission separate from acceptance

A letter authorising access to data should be understandable to the people signing it. Specify the sites and information covered, permitted purposes, duration, recipients and the authority retained by the school. Distinguish obtaining information, requesting offers and discussing terms from entering a binding agreement. Ask a suitable adviser to review unclear contractual authority before signature.

The appointment of the TPI and the award of the supply agreement remain separate decisions. Set the route for each and identify who can authorise the final acceptance. A short quotation window is a reason to prepare the governance timetable early. It should not leave the school relying on an informal understanding about who may commit it.

Give service quality a test before award

Ask how the proposed team would handle a real problem from the school’s requirement: an unexplained night load, an incorrect meter on an invoice or a forthcoming change in occupation. Request the process, the responsible role, the expected output and any additional charge. Examine relevant experience and the technical competence of anyone offering site or energy-management work.

Agree a service schedule that the school can later review. State the frequency of bill checks, reporting, account meetings and renewal planning. Record response and escalation arrangements, data access and the exit handover. If specialist legal, tax or engineering work is outside the appointment, make the boundary clear and identify how the school will obtain it.

Record why this support suits this school

The recommendation should explain the need, options considered, costs, interests and authority arrangements, then show why the proposed support is suitable. Include the limitations. An adviser might offer strong supply procurement but need a separate technical partner for site work. The school can make an informed choice when those responsibilities and costs are visible.

Use the TPI guide to prepare the brief and compare candidate support. Carry the agreed service into the supply assessment and keep the actual appointment accessible in the school’s own records. The benefit of an accountable adviser relationship is that the bursar can identify what should happen next, who is responsible and what evidence will demonstrate delivery.