The Challenge
St Edmunds School has a rich history, with its first recorded pupil starting in 1751 using funding from the Clergy Orphan Society. The school is now a fully co-ed day and boarding school situated on St Thomas Hill in Canterbury. Since 1972 the school has educated the Canterbury Cathedral Choristers.
St Edmunds was already well versed in saving money and making efficiency changes when its team came to The Cost Reduction Company for additional support. We were a perfect fit because of our previous success and experience with independent schools.
The goal was to continue current practices with increased effectiveness and expand the efforts toward cost reduction and energy efficiency within the school across a variety of divisions.
Our Solution
Our first action was to conduct a bill validation exercise which resulted in a substantial financial saving for St Edmunds on their utility expenditure.
“Utility contracts are often considered fixed but charging errors can often be made and not detected… The Cost Reduction Company helped us to sort the issues we had.”
The next step was to look at procurement and purchasing methods and we found that although St Edmunds were happy with the service it was getting from its oil
supplier, it was paying over the odds. For this reason, we decided to negotiate a reduction in price for the school going forward but remain with the same contractor.
Looking to the future, we will aim to start the Light as a Service initiative as well as looking into St Edmund’s food spend and waste contracts.
Our Tactics
- Bill validation exercise
- Expenditure change
- Utilities and procurement analysis
- Contract negotiation
- Ongoing behavioural changes
Our Highlights
- Saved 12% on annual oil spend (approximately £100,000)
- Saved £7,500 of fees on utility tax rates
- Generated £12,000 of fees by renegotiating LPG costs
- Currently quoting for Light as a Service