Northern Ireland schools urged to dress warmly as energy bills set to soar by £8m

Schools across Northern Ireland have been instructed to tell staff and pupils to "wear more clothes" if classrooms grow cold, as the Education Authority warns that gas and electricity costs are poised to climb sharply over the coming financial year.

The guidance forms part of a letter sent by the Education Authority (EA) to head teachers across the region, urging them to trim energy consumption "wherever possible" in a bid to limit the damage to already stretched school budgets. The authority has projected that bills for gas and electricity in schools will rise by roughly £8m by March 2027.

In the correspondence, the EA told school leaders that "recent geopolitical events are expected to have a substantial impact on energy costs across the Education Authority (EA) during the 2026/27 financial year". While the letter did not elaborate in detail, BBC reporting has identified the US-Israel war with Iran as one of the factors contributing to the increase — a reminder of how far-flung conflicts can ripple through to the running costs of a primary school classroom thousands of miles away.

The scale of the projected increase varies considerably between fuel types. Total school gas bills are forecast to surge by 60%, climbing from £10.7m to £17m by March 2027. Electricity costs are expected to rise more modestly, by 5%, going from £23.8m to £25.1m over the same period. Combined, the two increases represent a substantial new pressure on schools that are already managing tight per-pupil funding settlements.

Against that backdrop, the EA has set out a series of suggested measures designed to shave consumption from school energy use. Among them are reducing heating by one hour per day, switching off artificial lighting in favour of natural daylight, and reviewing usage patterns more generally to identify waste.

Most strikingly, staff and pupils have been advised to put on extra layers rather than reach for the thermostat when temperatures dip. The suggestion is likely to prove contentious in a region where winter temperatures regularly drop to uncomfortable levels, and where many school buildings are old and poorly insulated.

Rising energy costs are not a problem confined to the school estate. Households across Northern Ireland are already feeling the pinch as prices climb, and the education sector is now bracing for a parallel squeeze. The EA's plea for thrift reflects a wider cost-of-living climate in which families, public services and businesses are all competing against the same upward pressure on fuel prices.

However, principals have been quick to point out that the guidance, however well intentioned, is far easier to issue than to implement. Kirsty Logan-Hall, principal of Tullygally Primary School in Craigavon, said her school was "committed to promoting responsible energy consumption and regularly reinforce good practice with staff and pupils". She stressed, though, that meaningful savings are constrained by the physical reality of the site.

Tullygally operates from an older building that, in Logan-Hall's words, presents "inherent energy efficiency challenges". The layout compounds the difficulty: the campus is unusually spread out to accommodate the school's specialist provision, which means multiple areas must be heated, lit and maintained throughout the school day to guarantee appropriate learning environments, accessibility and pupil welfare.

Logan-Hall was direct about the trade-offs involved. She warned that there is "limited scope for reducing energy consumption without adversely impacting the quality of provision, staff working conditions or the wellbeing of pupils, including those with additional needs". In other words, for some schools, turning the heating down is not a simple efficiency saving but a potential risk to vulnerable children.

Her counterpart at Holy Evangelists Primary School in Dunmurry, Claire Robinson, offered a similarly blunt assessment, describing energy costs as "ferocious". Robinson explained that her classrooms cannot drop below a certain temperature, meaning the heating must stay on. "We can't just turn the heating off in some areas of the school," she said, highlighting the practical limits of the EA's recommendations.

Interestingly, Robinson's school is relatively new, with parts of the building fitted with underfloor heating. Yet even so, it has been given an energy efficiency rating of D, a reflection of the cost involved in running its heating system. The rating underscores a broader point: newer construction does not automatically translate into affordable energy, particularly where specialist systems are required.

Taken together, the principals' comments reveal a fundamental tension at the heart of the EA's appeal. Schools are being asked to cut costs at precisely the moment when their capacity to do so without harming educational quality is most constrained. Older estates, specialist provision and the physical needs of children all limit how far consumption can realistically fall.

The episode also raises wider questions about how public buildings in Northern Ireland will adapt to a sustained era of elevated energy prices. Without significant investment in insulation, heating systems and building fabric, schools may find themselves repeating the same appeals to put on an extra jumper each winter — with diminishing returns for both budgets and pupil comfort.

For now, the EA's message stands: review usage, switch off what you can, and layer up when the cold sets in. Whether that is enough to offset an £8m shortfall, and what happens if costs rise further still, will be the pressing question for head teachers as the 2026/27 financial year approaches.