Electric opportunity for schools

New Zealand schools are being given a powerful opportunity that will give them more money to spend on their students.

The New Zealand Schools Trustees Association and TrustPower, one of the country’s largest energy retailers, have put together a joint initiative to harness schools’ collective buying power.

NZSTA General Manager Ray Newport says the initiative, called STApower, means that not only will schools be paying a discounted rate for their power and saving money, they will also be able to reduce their energy costs and be able to raise extra funds for their school.

STApower has the option of building a community loyalty scheme between each school and the community it serves. Households who select TrustPower for their residential power supply can nominate a school of their choice, which will see both enjoying additional benefits under the scheme.

“It is a good scheme for everyone,” says Ray Newport. “And for every 100 household that sign up, a school could raise about $6,000 a year.”

The scheme will operate nationally and kicks off later this month.

STApower is the first of a number of initiatives which will become part of a new development by NZSTA to use new technology to allow 2,400 schools to work collectively to make significant savings in their running costs.

It will become an important part of a new e-commerce portal to be called STAbuy that will allow member boards of trustees to purchase a range of goods and services online.

“These initiatives are designed to put the collective buying power of schools to the best use possible so they can make significant savings in the cost of running their schools,” says Ray Newport.

He says many schools are already enthusiastic about the scheme.

“They can’t wait to get started.”
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