Primary school headteacher Gethin Richards plans to use financial reserves to pay for an 80% hike in energy costs. But he warned that this approach would only go so far.
His school - Ysgol Y Bedol, Garnant - paid £17,000 for electricity and £14,000 for gas between April, 2021, and the end of March, 2022. The school budgeted an extra £7,000 for energy for the current financial year, but this was before wholesale energy prices soared even further. Mr Richards said the school now needed to find a further £18,000, on top of the £7,000, to meet the new costs.
He said: "That's when you're looking at decisions - do you look at your staffing structure? Do you cut back on school activities? I have reassured staff that for this financial year it's going to come out of our surplus. Obviously, the surplus will only carry you so much." You can get more cost-of-living news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
