School budgets have rarely been under more strain. Running costs rose 5.7% last year, pushing more schools into deficit. A growing number of trusts are now more than £1m in the red on their budgets — and governing boards say balancing the books is their number one worry, the highest in 15 years.
The one bill you don't just have to absorb
There's no immediate solution to the fixed expense like the teachers' pay award, employer National Insurance, or the rising cost of SEND provision. But there is one big cost you can act on directly, starting today: energy.
Energy prices were projected to fall this year. Instead, they're rising again and less predictable than ever as conflict in the Middle East and a squeeze on Europe's gas supplies push wholesale prices up. That's a double hit: a bigger bill, and far less certainty about what next year holds.
So, how do you gain more control and stability (and perhaps even quick wins) in this situation?
Cut energy use, or rather, energy waste. Starting with the biggest hidden opportunity — plug-load.
There's more to be gained than you think, running across every classroom, IT equipment, kitchens, the entire school long after the last pupil and teacher has gone home.
We’ve seen schools and universities cut 40-60% off their energy bills by taking two simple steps.
Step 1: Make the wasted energy spend visible
Most schools have no real idea which devices burn power out of hours. Computers left in sleep. Interactive whiteboards on standby. Water heaters and kitchen equipment humming through the night, the weekend, and the whole summer holiday. Even with solar panels, LED lighting and a new heat pump installed, that waste carries on, because no one sees it — or they assume there’s nothing to be done.
Some try an energy audit. But that only gives you a snapshot of the situation and a report, then nothing changes. There’s no action to follow (without more investment), no real patterns identified and monitored (without manual checks).
What actually changes the bill is continuous, appliance-level visibility: real-time data showing which device, in which classroom, is drawing power when it’s empty. Every room, every device, even every school in your trust, on a single dashboard.
Step 2: Stop paying for energy no one’s using, with one switch
Seeing the waste is one thing. Cutting it without piling another job onto an already-stretched team is another. And you know as well as we do that asking staff to remember to switch things off never holds for long. Teachers are busy, staff move on, and within a few weeks the savings quietly disappear.
As Iain Gunn, Head Teacher at St Peters explained to us, "I'd come in on a Saturday and notice that people had left screens on in the classrooms. We've got a computer suite. I could say to people turn off all the computers on a Friday night. It'll happen for a little bit and then it kind of dies off again."
Is there a different way?
There is — using smart sockets and a system that can detect energy waste and automate savings on autopilot. For example, measurable.energy's AI-powered smart sockets learn how each appliance is used, track real-time usage, and power down idle devices on their own — overnight, at weekends, through the holidays. No more worrying about schedules and combing through excels sheets to find out what’s actually drawing most power. For extra control, you can press an override button any time to bring power straight back.
There’s no complex setup or training needed, no schedules to manage, no additional, manual work. Above all, this way, you don’t depend on staff action, and teachers don’t need adopt one more thing on their extensive to-do list. In fact, at St Peter’s Primary School, none of the staff had even noticed a change when the school was already reaching 40% savings in energy use.
Two more wins you don’t need to budget for
There's more to this than meets the bill.
One bonus win: having smart sockets that continuously monitor plug-load means you’ll get notified of faulty or overloaded equipment before it trips a fuse or turns into a fire risk.
What’s more, a smart system that automates savings and better sustainability practices not only demonstrates your values in practice but also helps raise a new sustainability-conscious generation.
At St Peter’s, for example, measurable.energy socket LED indicators showed when the school is running on renewable energy from their solar panels. That helped children understand the connection between weather conditions and energy production, which inspired interest, questions, and even new teaching solutions.
We’ve seen this system work time and time again. St Peter's saved £7,000 – £8,000 a year per school with an 18-month payback, leading to funding a rollout to 35 more schools. The University of Reading saw office energy use fall 60%, with a 38% cut in CO₂.
Energy doesn't have to be the line that erodes your budget. Handled well, it becomes the one that protects it.
