Schneider Electric Helps Quitman County School District Reduce Annual Energy Costs by 20 Percent

The Quitman County School District, located along the banks of the picturesque Walter F. George Lake in southwest Georgia, today announced it is embarking on an energy efficiency project that will demonstrate the district’s commitment to creating 21st century schools. The district will partner with energy and sustainability expert Schneider Electric on an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) project that will enhance the district’s buildings and save nearly $500,000 over the life of the project.

The project also includes interior LED lighting upgrades that will enhance learning and athletic environments and exterior LED lighting to improve campus safety.

Schneider Electric’s unique approach to ESPCs enables school districts such as Quitman County to take money that would have normally been spent on utilities and reinvest it back into its schools to achieve a variety of important goals it might not otherwise be able to afford. In this case, the partnership will allow Quitman County Schools to take these first important steps to modernize its school buildings without increasing taxes in the community.

“In my first year as Superintendent of Quitman County Schools, I quickly realized we needed to set new goals for creating a 21st century learning environment for our students,” said Victoria L. Harris, Ed.S., Superintendent, Quitman County School District. “Our partnership with Schneider Electric will allow us to move forward with a number of deferred maintenance projects, all without raising taxes for residents. We are proud to be able to offer our students the high-quality classrooms they deserve.”

For years, the Quitman County School District has struggled to maintain temperatures in the server room at its elementary school, with antiquated cooling systems unable to keep up with increasingly hot and humid Georgia summers. As a result, the schools’ IT servers needed to be replaced. Schneider Electric worked with the district to install a dedicated cooling unit in the server room, increasing consistency and reliability of its IT systems.