Utilities
The FY26 budget for utilities is $6,245,124, which represents a decrease of $121,390, or 2%, from the budget in FY25. Utilities costs are projected to make up approximately 2% of the FY26 budget. Several factors make up this budget and are explained below. Please refer to the detailed document on utilities for school-by-school utility usage and cost data for more information. In accordance with the City of Newton’s commitment to sustainability and green energy, NPS’s new buildings, starting with the Newton Early Childhood Program (NECP) and 150 Jackson Rd (Lincoln Eliot), will be converted to operate fully on electricity. As we continue to update school buildings and shift away from reliance on fossil fuels, the district’s natural gas usage and costs will continue to decrease, and these costs will shift to electricity. Future Electricity costs are anticipated to also increase as these new buildings come online, not only due to increasing electricity rates, but also due to their larger physical footprint in addition to being fully air- conditioned.
Electricity
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The FY26 Electricity budget is $3.695 million, a $73,703 increase from the FY25 Budget. Much of this is due to the following reasons:
o Following construction completion this summer, 150 Jackson Rd (Lincoln Elliot) will be run fully on electric starting September 2025, which will modestly increase the district’s electricity usage and costs. o The Horace Mann building at 225 Nevada Street will be under construction for all FY26. During this time, the construction company will cover all utilities costs associated with this building, which will modestly decrease the district’s electricity usage and costs. o In FY26, the district will be reinstating the Early Morning Program Credit, which will somewhat offset elementary electricity costs. In past years, the district has claimed a $50,000 credit offset from the costs of electricity associated with running the Early Morning Program, wherein elementary school parents can pay a small amount of tuition to drop their children off early at school. During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Early Morning Program could no longer sustain enough revenue to allow the district to claim these credits, leaving the district to absorb these costs. However, in FY25 the program as begun to once again earn enough revenue to begin claiming these credits once again and, starting in FY26, this electricity offset was once again added to the electricity budget. o In November FY25, the district entered a new electricity supply contract with its vendor, which modestly increased the district’s supply rate in FY25 but is expected to remain steady over the remaining 3 years.
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