Basic requirements

Learn about the types of schools and organisations we work with, and what you will need to have in place to access Energy Sparks’ services.

Audience

This page provides help for anyone using the Energy Sparks website.

Who can join Energy Sparks?

  • We support primary,  secondary, special and all-through schools across the UK. We can also support nursery schools and further education colleges that predominantly operate during term-time. 
  • We support both state and independent schools.
  • You can join as an individual school or as a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) or Local Authority managing multiple schools.

What data and meters do we need to join?

To provide you with detailed insights, Energy Sparks analyses half-hourly electricity and gas consumption data. We also analyse data from solar monitoring systems. We will receive this data directly from your energy supplier or meter operator.

Your school needs to have energy meters capable of producing half-hourly data. This includes Half Hourly (HH), Smart (SMETS2) or Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) meters.

Find out how to identify your meters and meter numbers.


What permission does Energy Sparks need?

A Letter of Authority


Energy Sparks requires a Letter of Authority (LoA) to:

  • Access your school's energy data via your energy supplier or meter operator.
  • Work with your energy contract holder (e.g. your Local Authority or MAT) if they manage your data access.

Please use our template Letter of Authority. We have separate templates for schools and trusts:


If you are completing a MAT Letter of Authority, please include all meters on your supply contract, even if not all your schools are joining Energy Sparks in the first instance. This is because some energy suppliers can only give access to energy data for the full portfolio of meters on the supply contract.
 
Energy Sparks will never publish a school’s energy data until consent has been provided via the account set-up process in our online portal.

Once completed, our standard template Letter of Authority is valid for three years. We will request a new Letter of Authority when your existing one is due to expire. Please provide this promptly, otherwise your data is likely to become out of date in your Energy Sparks account.

Individual school consent


We require consent in order to provide services to your school. When setting up your Energy Sparks account, you will be asked for consent to:

  • Collect and store information about the electricity and gas meters installed in your school including meter numbers and type.
  • Collect and store current and all available historical half-hourly energy consumption data, as well as any solar generation and export data, on behalf of your school to provide insights into energy consumption and potential savings.
  • Collect and store information on your energy tariffs, so that we can provide more accurate cost and saving estimates.
  • Publish and share your energy data and insights publicly and/or with authorised users at your school, including teachers and pupils, as defined in the Energy Sparks service Terms and Conditions and any additional agreements between Energy Sparks and your school (such as a multi-year contract for services). We strongly recommend that most schools opt for your energy data to be publicly visible on the Energy Sparks website to maximise engagement with the data and insights across your school community. However, we do offer the option of a private portal account on request. This is not an option for schools receiving funded access to Energy Sparks’ services. 
 
You must also agree to our Terms and Conditions, which set out the full agreement between your school and Energy Sparks.

You can withdraw consent and ask for your school’s data to be removed from Energy Sparks at any time. The procedure for doing this is explained in the Terms and Conditions.

What do we need to do next?

  1. Read the overview of our energy management tool, which summarises all the key features. You can also watch a demo or contact us if you need more information.
  2. Check the current Energy Sparks prices for your school or Trust. 
  3. Read how to enrol your school, Trust or Local Authority