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How YPO's energy strategy helps schools

Blog
The YPO Team
17 Oct 2025

Energy procurement for schools is now becoming more challenging due to the complexities they face navigating the volatile market, fluctuating prices and the heavy reliance on third party intermediaries.

Here at YPO, our Energy Risk Management Policy is specifically designed to help local councils, schools and education providers buy energy in a smarter, safer, and more cost-effective way. We are trusted by schools, currently managing more than 3,500 school accounts. We can help provide a direct route to market for your energy supply, ensuring full compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations.

Through utilising our flexible open baskets, we want to ensure that schools and local councils have an advance level of service through risk management. We will look at how price volatility will affect your full costs depending on budget, consumption, and overall tolerance for risk.

Here is how YPO’s energy strategy can support you in more detail:

1. More predictable budgets

Schools operate on tight budgets, often planned a year in advance. When the energy costs are unpredictable and fluctuational, it can likely disrupt the school’s funding for other necessary services like catering, resources or staffing. With YPO’s energy strategy, schools and local councils can avoid seeing surprises or spikes in energy bills by spreading out purchases and locking in prices at the right time. Through this, schools will know exactly how much they’ll be spending in the year, and can plan their budgets with more confidence, even when energy prices fluctuate. As part of this strategy, we will provide updates via our category management team, which will provide access to our reports in our update meetings providing transparent cost illustrations of how the energy basket is performing, ensuring full clarity and reassurance for our customers.

2. Better value through group buying

Schools are part of a large group that buy energy collaboratively with other institutions, giving them access to more favourable deals than buying individually. The group can access benefits of being able to access the wholesale market via YPO flexible energy basket or additional services to these large groups, providing schools with better value for money. This group approach ensures that all participating schools receive access to the same pricing structure, regardless of their size, location or reputation. It also ensures that everyone is aware of the terms and pricing, which promotes full transparency.

3. Flexibility for Changing Needs

Our new strategy enables flexibility and adaptability.

Whether a school expands its facilities or upgrades to more energy-efficient systems, letting us know of your needs means ahead of time flexible purchasing baskets can adapt accordingly. This means that schools won’t be stuck in a rigid energy plan that does not accommodate to their circumstances. This also ensures that penalties and wasted money is mitigated if a school uses more or less energy than anticipated.

4. Protection from Market Risks

YPO’s energy strategy includes safety nets to protect schools from sudden price spikes in a volatile market. When these market prices start going beyond certain thresholds, YPO works towards mitigating these risks through this defined strategy. We can help schools switch over to our reliable suppliers with better rates and begin to review and adjust procurement contract plans to avoid high-cost items or services. Our dedicated energy team will also monitor daily market conditions against seasonal normal demand within the customer portfolio(s).

5. Support for Sustainability

As of 2021, YPO has aimed for all new energy contracts to be supplied with the option to purchase renewable energy sources. Schools and local councils can choose to buy renewable energy – such as wind or solar sources – as part of their energy procurement if they want to demonstrate environmental responsibility. This choice allows them to significantly reduce their carbon footprint and supports green goals without pressuring anyone to make changes that they’re not prepared for. By implementing greener energy contracts, this supports the transition to Net Zero emissions.

6. Strong Oversight and Governance

At YPO, we have a dedicated energy team that regularly reviews the energy strategy to ensure it is working effectively and up to date. Schools and local councils can benefit from expert management without needing to handle the complexity themselves.

For more information and advice, contact our energy team on [email protected].

You can also access our extensive range of energy supply frameworks here, which provides a direct route to market for your energy supply needs.

Author

The YPO Team

YPO supplies products and services to a wide range of customers including schools, local authorities, charities, emergency services, public sector and other businesses such as nurseries and care homes. YPO are 100% publicly owned, by 13 local authorities, which means the profits made are returned to public sector customers, delivering even better value for money.