The French energy management company tapped by the Iola school district to bring down utility costs is on the hot seat.
Schneider Electric, which provides its clients with computer software and energy equipment to automate utilities while guaranteeing cost savings, has been a thorn in the side of USD 257 Director of Operations Scott Stanley, testifying at the Oct. 10 school board meeting that the benefits of the contract were being outweighed by the costs.
Savings are only guaranteed if the district adheres to Schneider-set guidelines when heating and cooling school buildings — the real headache for school administrators. Stanley said those guidelines are creating an uncomfortable learning environment for students with classroom temperature variances of up to 13 degrees at any given time.
Temperatures in USD 257 schools sometimes go down to 50 degrees on weekends.
At Monday’s USD 257 board meeting, Matt Breaux of Schneider Electric tried to ease some of those concerns with a presentation comparing the guaranteed and actual energy saved and the associated costs.
But before he could get far, Stanley interrupted, saying the district administrators and board members were already aware of the data.
“I can look at these formulas all day long. I’d like to see these calculations … so we know we really are saving this much money and its not just a number that’s out there,” he said, referring to specific areas where costs were saved. “Was it the time we were running or the retrofitting we put in. That’s the kind of clarity the board and myself are looking for.”
The presentation Monday illustrated the district’s gas and electricity savings.
Beyond the $275,000 worth of energy equipment purchases and upgrades made when the 15-year contract with Schneider was entered into, the district pays about $80,000 annually for what turned out to be a $74,000 energy savings last year.
Breaux admitted the method used to evaluate savings is complicated but insisted energy use by USD 257 has reduced.
“It’s not an easy system. You’re right. You either have to take my word for it or hire a third party to do that,” he said. “All we’re doing is comparing utility bill to utility bill so you can get a rough idea of what that is just using that base year data.”
Board President Tony Leavitt told Breaux to consider “dumbing it (the presentation) down” for the board.
“We’re seeing a whole lot of numbers which we want to believe are really good but we’re trying to decipher the numbers and we can’t figure it out,” he said.
Breaux said when the contract was initially entered, Schneider fulfilled its requirement of training USD 257 staff to validate the data.
Additional training is available at $110 an hour, he said.
But it’s not just the numbers, Stanley said. Adding to the frustration is uneven temperatures in the high school and middle school classrooms, a nuisance Stanley presumed to be the fault of Schneider’s automated system.
“Last week … at the middle school we had one classroom that was extremely hot. The unit was trying to cool it, but 11 of the 12 (heating and cooling units) were calling for heat, one was calling for cool,” he said. “The 11 of the 12 override and that classroom continues to be hot.”
When calls are made to Schneider’s help line, the district is told it’s not the automated system and everything on their end checks out, Stanley said.
Breaux suggested those finding are also accurate.
“Can you be assured that your equipment is operating at a 100 percent all the time?” he asked.
Board member Mark Burris grew frustrated with Breaux.
“I’m sitting here listening to you point the finger at us and I’ve just about had enough of it, sir. You are the contractor. We are the customer therefore we are correct,” Burris said. “If we have trouble, it’s your people’s position to help us.”
Breaux agreed it’s in both USD 257 and Schneider’s interests to address the discussed concerns, but was steadfast in his insistence that the company has met and exceeded its contractual obligations. A portion of the agreement grants the district 20 hours of free access to Schneider’s technical support help line. But Breaux said the 169 hours of support offered to USD 257’s operations department “far outweighed the value” of the annual fee for the service.
After about 2 1/2 hours of back and forth discussion with all five present board members chiming in, Leavitt attempted to bring some resolution to the conversation.
“There’s a reason that you’re getting 169 hours worth of calls. You think you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing,” the board president said to Breaux. “I hope you understand that we have questions and frustrations on what needs to be done.
“If we can’t work together and figure it out then we’ve got the wrong company,” Leavitt added.
Breaux agreed and offered to review the possibility of revising the efficiency plan to accommodate comfort needs while still adhering to the contract.
“We can implement that immediately and move forward,” he said.
The board didn’t take any action on the issue but discussed it further in a closed executive session.
Board sounds off on energy company
