SCHOOL CONNECTIONEDITORIAL NETWORKSee the change. Examine the evidence.
Understand what it means for schools.
The school energy buying programme
A connected programme of current analysis, practical guides, worked school files and editable records. Follow six steps to assess your options, choose suitable support and explain the complete agreement, then manage its value throughout the term.
For maintained schools, academy trusts and independent schools.
Electricity and gas buying, approval and contract management.
Start here / Choose your setting
Choose your setting for the relevant guidance. Then follow six steps, each with a task, an outcome and a resource to use.
Choose your school setting above. The programme will explain the relevant starting point.
Your buying journey / Six practical milestones
Start where you are. Use the recommended resource for that step, then return to continue. Your decision paper brings the work together.
The record at the heart of your journey
Bring the reasons, comparison and approvals into one paper that governors, trustees or your authorised decision-maker can understand.
A short extract of Document 6 from the transaction pack: a completed fictional example followed by your editable paper.
Check your evidence and next actions →
Keep the review with your decision paper: record references, open conditions, owners and dates.
Explain the choice clearly
Include the approved-deal comparison and additional records where your setting requires them. The paper supports your decision; it does not certify compliance.
Evidence at the finish / Your school’s handover
Connect the work behind your decision paper. Locate the records, explain the choice and make unresolved questions visible to the people responsible.
“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
Follow the latest policy development through the agreement, budget and continuing service. Five written questions help establish what the school can rely on.
Read the policy feature →The permanent programme / Guides, findings and support
The editorial features explain the pressures. These resources stay connected to the decision: what to understand, what to prepare and where to get support.
01 / Core buying guides
Choose the right route, understand an adviser’s role and work through contract structure and duration.
Your school’s buying route →Choosing and briefing a TPI →Contract types and what they fix →Choosing the length of the agreement →02 / Research and findings
Read the findings, methodology and limits behind our analysis, including what published cases can establish.
DfE research: the support schools need →How to interpret a benchmark →School outcomes: reported, potential and realised →03 / Support features
Specify help with bills, metering and consumption, and agree who follows findings through to practical action. Use the guidance to define the service and check its delivery.
Contract ending soon? →Specifying the continuing service →When the bill or service is wrong →Ask the editorial desk →04 / Work with your team
Use completed examples, editable records and the dated comparison model to document your own assessment.
Follow a completed school buying file →Compare the complete cost →Record evidence, owners and next actions →Download guides, Word and Excel tools ↓Applied buying / Follow a completed file
Three fictional school files show the brief, offers, fees, risk review, recommendation and first-bill checks. They demonstrate the method, with every invented assumption identified.
Fictional examples are separate from the actual published procurement record. They are not real offers, school approvals or verified savings.
Research into practice
Start with the investigation
DfE's research found that comparing offers and judging value could be difficult. A stronger buying process makes the choice understandable before a signature is needed.
Read the research-led analysis →Understand the agreement
Separate pricing structure, supply term, purchase timing, volume and decision rights. Product labels cannot do that work for you.
| Supply term, if offered | What it can support | What to test |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | A nearer review or a defined bridge to planned change. | Repeat procurement, renewal exposure and the cost of the next decision. |
| 24 months | A period of specified rate certainty with a nearer opportunity to reassess. | Budget years, renewal timing and estate changes during the term. |
| 36 months | A longer planning horizon with the service and risk allocation agreed. | Future demand, pass-through exceptions and full-term adviser fees. |
| 48–60 months | Longer arrangements where the market offers them and they fit the estate. | Exit, volume/site flexibility, future opportunities and cumulative exposure. |
These are decision prompts, not offers or recommended terms. A longer fix does not guarantee a lower bill. Availability and conditions vary.
Put the guidance to work
Two educational tools show why a headline unit rate is not enough. Your actual comparison must use complete written offers and the correct procurement route.
Illustrative annual pre-tax model for one electricity or gas requirement. All rates and fees are invented examples. Use the same demand for both options.
Cost = kWh × (quoted unit rate + additional variable charges + uplift only if excluded from the rate) ÷ 100 + daily standing charge × days + other annual charges. All inputs exclude VAT. CCL and every other applicable charge must be included in a relevant input or separately reconciled before using real offers. Missing and changing charges cannot be treated as zero.
| Demand scenario | Option A | Option B |
|---|
A supplier-paid uplift is part of the economic cost. Translate it into pounds over each possible duration; do not add it twice if already in the quote.
| Duration | Illustrative commission |
|---|
Annual kWh × p/kWh ÷ 100 × years. Constant annual demand; excludes direct fees and tax. Actual commission can change with use and contract terms.
Beyond procurement
The right support can help your team understand complex charges, check bills, investigate use and turn findings into action. Agree the expertise, outputs, response times and fees, then review what is delivered.
Research that informs a decision
The evidence supports better questions and comparisons. It does not promise that every school, framework or adviser will produce the same outcome.
DfE survey / 2023
42%–78%Energy procurement confidence across the reported standalone-school groups. Perceived confidence, not an assessment of buying skill.
See the groups and bases →DfE benchmark / 2026
A comparisonHistorical school bills against estimated Energy for Schools costs. Some incumbent arrangements were cheaper; this is not a future quotation.
Read the method and table →Provider case / Howard trust
£33,000Annual standing and capacity charge benefit reported by WME. A specific charge review, rather than a general tariff-saving benchmark.
Read the case and caveats →Potential is different from realised
The published £31,720 and 447,355 kWh are identified potential annual savings. The case helps leaders ask how an opportunity becomes an implemented and measured result.
TPI support can use a framework
A school using a broker is not automatically buying outside a framework. Our case review keeps reported services, procurement route and missing evidence visible.
The complete programme
Download and work with your team
Complete reading editions and practical records. The reading editions, completed specimens and editable tools are available to download here for use with your team.
The complete guide, toolkit, decision paper and transaction pack were revised on 5 November 2026. 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 and current terms before a procurement decision. The toolkit organises evidence; it does not approve your contract.
Answers connected to the guidance
Search in your own words. Try “using a broker”, “contract length”, “governor approval”, “commission” or “framework”.
Ask the editorial desk
Tell us which part of the buying decision needs a clearer answer.
Useful questions help us develop the programme. Keep pupil information, confidential bills and contract attachments out of this form.
Editorial questions, individual support and introductions are separate requests. An identifiable example would be reviewed with you before publication.
Evidence and independence
Sources sit with the relevant guidance. Rules, research findings, provider-reported cases and illustrative calculations keep their own labels. Commercial support does not buy an editorial conclusion.