Northern Ireland schools urged to save energy as bills are forecast to rise £8m

Northern Ireland's Education Authority has asked schools across the region to cut energy use, including by considering shorter heating hours and advising staff and pupils to wear more clothes when cold, BBC News NI reported on 7 October. The request comes as the authority forecasts combined school gas and electricity bills will rise by about £8m by March 2027, raising questions for principals about how to save energy while keeping classrooms suitable for pupils.

How much school energy bills are expected to rise

According to the BBC's account of the authority's letter to head teachers, total school gas bills are projected to rise by 60%, from £10.7m to £17m. Electricity bills are expected to increase from £23.8m to £25.1m over the period to March 2027. Together, those figures imply an increase of about £7.6m, rounded in the report to about £8m. They are forecasts, rather than bills schools have already paid.

The authority asked schools to review their energy use and identify ways to reduce consumption wherever possible. Suggestions reported by the BBC include cutting heating use by an hour a day, switching off classroom lights when natural daylight is sufficient, and putting on more clothes instead of turning up the thermostat. The report does not establish that schools have adopted those measures or that they have produced savings.

The letter said recent geopolitical events were expected to have a substantial effect on energy costs in the 2026/27 financial year, according to the BBC. The report identified the US-Israel war with Iran as one factor behind rising costs. Neither the reported letter nor the available figures quantify how much of the projected school bill increase is attributable to that conflict.

Why principals say heating cuts are difficult

At Holy Evangelists Primary School in Dunmurry, principal Claire Robinson described energy costs as ‘ferocious’. She said some classrooms must stay above a minimum temperature and that parts of the relatively new building have underfloor heating. Robinson told the BBC the school had received a D energy-efficiency rating, which she linked to the cost of running its heating system. Her account illustrates why a simple reduction in heating hours may be difficult for some buildings.

Brian Guthrie, principal of Ebrington Primary School in Londonderry, told BBC Radio Foyle that asking children to sit in class wearing extra clothes was ‘ridiculous’. He said he would use heating as needed rather than ask pupils and staff to wear coats and hats in winter, while continuing to look for other energy savings. Guthrie described his roughly 10-year-old school building as very energy efficient and said 100 solar panels installed last year should pay for themselves within five years; those are his assessments, not audited results in the report.

Emma Quinn of Rathcoole Primary told the BBC that her school already turns off lights and that maintenance problems add to the pressure on schools. She argued that pupils should be able to enter a warm school after being outdoors. The principals' responses show that the authority's suggestions may have different practical effects depending on a school's building, heating system and pupils' needs.

The wider condition of Northern Ireland's school estate

The Northern Ireland Audit Office's 2024 report, Managing the Schools’ Estate, recorded 1,113 schools and 348,800 pupils in 2023/24. It estimated a school-estate maintenance backlog of £450m, up from £300m in 2017/18, and described buildings of varied ages and conditions. Those are historical estate-wide figures; they do not measure the condition or energy use of every school facing the new guidance.

The Audit Office also identified rising energy and construction costs, funding availability and other resource pressures as challenges for managing the estate. It said the Department of Education lacked complete, accurate and timely estate data. That longer-running picture gives context to principals' concerns about buildings, without establishing what any one school's heating bill will be this year.

What remains unclear about costs for individual schools

The Department of Education says grant-aided schools receive delegated budgets through the Common Funding Scheme, with the Education Authority issuing notifications of each school's budget share. The reported £8m increase concerns projected combined energy bills; the available information does not show how much of it will fall on individual schools or whether additional funding will offset their costs.

The authority's suggestions have also not been accompanied in the available reporting by measured savings or evidence of changed classroom temperatures. The immediate decision for school leaders is therefore how to review consumption within the limits of their buildings and the needs of pupils and staff. Whether the forecast bill rise materialises, and how schools respond in practice, will become clearer as the 2026/27 financial year progresses.