Begin Your Green Energy Audit

Switching Your School to Green Energy

The government-funded transition that will:

Take two-thirds off your monthly energy bills
Reduce your carbon footprint
Build a cash reserve for your special projects
Bring its own educational gains
Prepare your school for the next generation

By Anthony Dixey

Founder & CEO
ECOnomy Energy Group

Start your project with a no-commitment energy audit

Dear Educator

I know I’m not the first person to write to you about green energy!

I’m sure there are briefings in your inbox every week, from new advice to funding updates, all making demands on your time.

I’m equally sure you’ve explored efficiencies in the past. Perhaps a simple change like LED lighting, or a major project like solar power or internal wall insulation – I would guess it’s all been across your desk before.

However, I’m also willing to venture this:

It’s not easy to get that first foothold in a school-wide decarbonisation project. Especially when your Sustainability Lead has so much to contend with... and you’re asking contractors for exhaustive plans before the funding pot is established.

That’s why I’m writing to you today.

If, like many schools, your green efforts have stalled - or you feel unable to start, for lack of a detailed strategy – then I’d like to show you...

How to scope and cost your project, with no early-stage commitment

I’m Anthony Dixey, an electrician with a passion for clean, sustainable energy.

So much so, I recently transformed my entire business to focus on renewables.

We now help companies, homeowners and the public sector to reduce their outgoings and their carbon footprint - recently completing an installation in Swansea that's on track to save our commercial client £54,000 a year.

I'd like to see your school reap the same rewards, through solar power and other green solutions. But with the audit alone costing up to £20,000, I know you'll be wary of any financial commitment. So I'm reaching out to you with this unequivocal offer:

My team and I will carry out a comprehensive energy audit across your school estate, then prepare a fully-costed plan with funding sources confirmed.

All our costs will be deferred, to be paid if and when the work is awarded and funding is approved.

So you can begin your green transition with no commitment whatsoever - all we ask is a chance to put in our own competitive quote.

It starts with a simple phone call, which we can arrange here and now:

Or if you'd like some more detail first, let me outline our three-step approach...

STEP 1 : Your Green Energy Audit

Our aim is to establish your current energy spend, then identify wastage and environmental impact. And we propose to do this in a way that involves the whole school, to give you educational as well as financial value.

Our approach will depend on your Energy Performance (EPC) and Display Energy (DEC) Certificates, plus any measures you have in place – but a typical audit will run along these lines:

Review your energy spend

I don’t know how much your school is spending today, but in this volatile market, I’d expect your budget is stretched beyond reason.

I know of large schools facing a monthly shortfall of up to £12,000.

So first, we’ll clarify the numbers. We’ll do this with the help of AMR (Automatic Meter Reading): a diagnostic aid that will extract data from across the school to show consumption patterns, scope for savings and the positive impacts you can achieve.

Identify signs of wastage

We’ll work with you to establish a project team comprised of teachers, pupil "eco reps" and operational staff.

Together, we’ll walk the estate and take a critical look at the school’s consumption, to provide a narrative for the energy spend review.

We’ll also offer teaching aids, so that every class can participate and feed in their own recommendations.

Report back with proposals

Usually, this starts with a cultural shift: putting the whole school on ENERGY WATCH to police the wastage we've identified - bringing you easy savings with no significant outlay.

Then bespoke steps follow - to be issued in line with priorities set by the Welsh Government Energy Service.

We’ll confirm the savings you can achieve through:

CONSERVATION MEASURES like draught proofing and thermal insulation.
EFFICIENCIES like upgrading hungry old appliances.
NEW GREEN INITIATIVES like solar power, which could cut your electricity bills by 60% - 70%.
LOW CARBON TECHNOLOGIES like LED lighting, air source heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.

Schools guidance requests this weighting of measures in any options appraisal. Also known as:

LEANER > KEENER > GREENER > CLEANER

STEP 2 : Advancing The Project

Once we’ve settled on a programme of works, our challenge is twofold:

Approving building works and securing funds, to move the project forward.

Taking building works first - structural alterations are never straight forward. The planners in your local authority will have their own questions and legitimate concerns that we'll need to address before the project gains technical consent.

Only then can we move onto funding.

On paper, this is a simple affair, but in practice it’s a complex back-and-fore where the best business case can fail on a technicality. So we still have work to do here, to secure the money on competitive terms.

Your funds may come from multiple sources, such as:

Schools' Green Energy Funding

Money is frequently made available via the Welsh Government.

The Low Carbon Heat Grant

Money for public buildings in Wales relying on fossil fuels.

The Wales Funding Programme

Green energy loans at a fixed rate of 2.05% - via Salix Finance.

The Public Works Loan Board

A HM Treasury fund that your LA can access on your behalf.

We’ll explore all these options and more, to get your funding over the line.

As for our fees, we’re still working on contingency. Making this whole exercise 100% risk-free.

STEP 3: Project Delivery

As you know, timing is crucial in a school’s infrastructure project. Your term dates are immovable, so any delay to preliminaries can push the project back by 3 months or more.

So our next task is to make sure funds are released in time for major works to run during holidays, with minor works to follow in term time out of hours.

We’ll handle all this as your project lead. As well as completing electrical works, we’ll recruit and coordinate other trades in a way that limits your admin burden and any disruption to school life.

The End Result

As I see it, your school stands to gain in many different ways:

Immediate savings - up to 70% off your current energy costs
No financial risk - while scoping and securing the project, we work on contingency
Broad consensus - involving stakeholders from pupil reps to teachers and LA
Funding support - we help you secure grants and low-interest loans
Educational value - supporting your Climate Change curriculum
Environmental gains - meeting your decarbonisation targets
Financial bonus - retain 25% of money saved to pay for special projects*

*Sharing rewards through the Wales Funding Programme

If your funding is sourced through the Wales Funding Programme, your school can retain up to 25% of annual energy savings to fund extra-curricular activities or other internal programmes.

The fund, operated by Salix Finance, pays for all your green energy measures through a 2.05% loan - which is then repaid through savings over the next 10 years.

Getting Started

I hope this shows you how we can work together to bring green energy to your school, with all its financial, environmental and educational gains.

There is a long road ahead. There are surveys, budgets and applications to navigate before anything comes to fruition. But the first move is easy -

It starts with a 10-minute phone call.

This will be a chance to gauge the lie of the land. For you, a chance to ask questions, and for me a chance to understand your priorities - so we can both see if you're ready for our cost-deferred energy audit.

If you feel this call would be beneficial, please reserve a time in my diary here: