Power in numbers: School districts team up to save energy

Schools in Sandusky, Ohio, are ranking in an estimated $50,000 in savings on electricity costs this year after joining force, with about 50 other Ohio school districts to buy cheaper electricity. SchoolPool, a new electricity-buying coalition of schools across Ohio, is taking advantage of the state's

The pool will join a similar coalition of 125 school districts in western Pennsylvania, creating the biggest education-related buying pool of electricity in the country, its members say.

Cincinnati city schools, the largest of the 47 Ohio school districts in SchoolPool, spends about $3.6 million annually on electricity. 11 district hopes to save about $70,000 the first ay year, according to its treasurer, Mike Geoghegan.

But the savings weren't as important to th district as five years of consistent rates, Geoghegan says.

SchoolPool is a product of three Ohio edi cation associations representing school boars treasurers and superintendents.

The groups liked the business plan of Strategic Energy, which touts its ability to she for electricity 24 hours a day and guarantee a ie maximum price districts will pay over a contract's life, says Rick Lewis, spokesman for the Ohio School Boards Association.

Strategic Energy also contracts with a 125te school coalition known as the Western Pennsylvania Schools Energy Management Consortium. Those schools saw savings of $1. million in 1999 and received an additional Is, $790,000 after Strategic Energy resold power the schools didn't need.