A new nationwide study has found that Fiji’s off-grid and remote schools face sharply higher energy costs and inefficiencies, paying as much as 4.1 times more per student for energy than schools connected to the national grid. Analysing data from 173 schools across the country, researchers also established Fiji’s first national benchmarks for energy performance — an Energy Utilisation Index (EUI) and a Cost Utilisation Index (CUI) — providing the education sector with a baseline to measure and target improvements.
The study reports a median energy use of 8.7 kilowatt-hours per square metre per year across the sampled schools, but performance varied widely. Secondary schools, and particularly medium-sized secondary institutions, emerged as the most energy-intensive, reflecting higher service demands such as science labs, computer rooms and extended operating hours. Overall, electricity accounted for roughly 85 percent of total energy use in schools nationwide.
Off-grid institutions were shown to be especially vulnerable: many rely heavily on diesel and premix fuel to run generators, driving up both costs and exposure to supply and price shocks. That dependence helps explain the stark disparity in per-student energy costs between grid-connected and remote schools. The findings arrive as Fiji contends with recent electricity tariff increases and broader global fuel-price volatility, underscoring the risk that energy shocks will widen education inequalities between urban and remote communities.
The study also highlighted infrastructure and service gaps beyond electricity. Some 34 percent of surveyed schools depend on untreated water sources, linking water access and energy demand — for example, increased pumping or transport fuel requirements — and revealing how basic infrastructure shortfalls compound operational costs and climate vulnerability in maritime and rural schools.
To address these issues, researchers put forward pragmatic, low-cost measures alongside system-level reforms. Recommendations include switching to LED lighting, improving monitoring and routine measurement of energy use, and introducing student-led “Energy Champion” programmes to encourage conservation and build local capacity. At the systems level, the study calls for stronger government support for consistent data collection, better maintenance arrangements for renewable energy installations, and incentives to fund energy-efficient upgrades in schools.
The establishment of the EUI and CUI provides education and energy planners with tools to prioritise interventions and measure progress, the study says. With targeted upgrades and improved maintenance, schools could reduce operating costs, cut carbon emissions and strengthen climate resilience — outcomes that would be particularly valuable for remote communities where fuel access and costs are most unpredictable. Researchers urged policymakers to use the new benchmarks to channel technical assistance and financing to the highest-need schools, ensuring off-grid institutions are not left behind as Fiji transitions toward cleaner, more resilient energy systems.
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