Yorkshire primary school turns off heating following £4,000 energy bill

Joe Brian, head at Conisbrough’s Ivanhoe Primary Academy told parents he was sorry but admitted rising costs and lack of help from the Government had left him with little choice. In a letter to parents, he said the school would switch to its summer heating mode – and that pupils will be allowed to wear extra jumpers if they feel cold.

In a blast at the Conservative government and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Mr Brian said: “I am sorry about this, but the government is happy to put schools in this position and headteachers are thus left with very difficult decisions.”

Mr Brian said the school had already switched heating off earlier in the day and installed a new energy efficient boiler – but was still being faced with cripping energy bills because of the cost of living crisis.

The letter added: “I wanted to share with you our latest gas bill. Despite putting heating off from 1pm and despite a new, efficient boiler, our heating bill for December was about £2,000. This was for 14 school days – £141 a day. Last year we used 50% more gas and the bill was £600.

"This is crazy. Particularly as the government hasn’t put more money in our budgets to help with this – and they didn’t fund the pay increase either. So schools are just being left on their own with this. And this is why schools are so angry at the moment - we are obliged to manage a budget and not go into deficit - which is why schools are losing staff at the moment to save money.

"We simply can’t afford to be paying £4,000+ a month for gas and electricity: the unfounded increases cost the same as a full time teacher. I have decided to put the school into summer heating mode as the temperatures are relatively mild at the moment. If we have a cold snap, we will put the heating back on winter mode. Children will be allowed extra jumpers and so on if they feel cold.”

One angry parent joined the chorus of anger against the Government and said: “It is disgusting. Funding is being used inappropriately and it is not the fault of the school. There’s no way I’m blaming the headmaster.”

Last autumn, the government announced plans to help schools and other non-domestic energy users with their energy bills. Ministers said a plan to reduce rates to a “government-supported price” of £211 per megawatt hour for electricity and £75 for gas would equate to a saving of £4,000 for a school paying £10,000 a month for energy.

School leaders had warned they faced “apocalyptic” bill hikes of as much as 500 per cent. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it would compensate energy suppliers for the reduction, which will initially apply to energy use between October 1 2022 and March 31 2023.