Utility Business Processes
Russ Hissom, CPA
The Electric Utility Process Whisperer
In the movie The Horse Whisperer, a talented trainer has a remarkable gift for understanding horses — nursing them back to health and coaxing them to run at peak performance. The trainer does this not with exotic tools or complex analysis, but with a feel for the situation and a sense of the inner workings of his subject.
The same concept applies to business processes inside electric utilities and cooperatives.
What Is a "Business Process Whisperer"?
Every organization, large or small, has one or more Process Whisperers — people who are intimately familiar with key processes in the business and have a feel for how those processes could be enhanced or nursed back to health to operate at peak performance. Often, these individuals are the process owners themselves, or work in close proximity to a functional area.
Through their on-the-job knowledge, observation, and eye toward customer service or effective output, they have developed theories and opinions that would genuinely optimize performance — if only someone asked.
Policies and procedures are excellent tools that organizations should maintain to establish strong internal controls and promote uniformity. However, policies and procedures can become stagnant documents while the actual processes they govern are fluid — evolving with software modifications, changing inputs from vendors or customers, or the introduction of new tools and background knowledge.
Employees who perform a process daily often have solid, robust ideas on how to streamline it. Sometimes it's framed as making a process "easier" — but if a process is easier and still maintains effective internal controls, press the easy button every time.
Tapping the Whisperer Knowledge Base
Organizations have been effective in surfacing in-house process improvement insights through these methods:
Employee Process Improvement Hotlines
A dedicated channel — anonymous or named — for employees to submit ideas for process improvements at any time.
Annual Department Focus Groups
Structured sessions within departments to surface and share best practices that have emerged organically during the year.
Company Contests with Prizes
Incentivize participation by rewarding suggestions that produce measurable efficiencies or cost reductions.
Cost Savings Sharing Programs
Initiatives that share documented cost savings directly with the departments or employees who generated them.
Process Owner Interviews
Structured interviews of process owners as part of an internal audit project, documenting key processes and capturing improvement ideas.
Post-Change Measurement
Track results through cost analysis comparing pre- and post-change processes, customer satisfaction surveys, or reduced error rates.
Areas Ideal for a Process Whisperer Improvement Program
Many areas of a utility are well-suited for this approach. The following are a good starting point — the full list is much longer:
| # | Functional Area | Why It's a Good Candidate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer Service | High transaction volume and direct customer impact make even small improvements highly visible |
| 2 | Distribution Line Construction & Work Order Accounting | Complex multi-step processes with significant rate recovery implications |
| 3 | Materials Management | Inventory accuracy directly affects work order costs and capital project tracking |
| 4 | Accounts Payable | Manual entry and approval workflows often have embedded inefficiencies |
| 5 | Payroll Preparation | Time-sensitive and compliance-critical — errors are costly and visible |
| 6 | Finance Functions | Month-end close, reporting, and reconciliation processes often have significant time savings available |
| 7 | Employee Goal Setting & Evaluations | Process consistency and documentation quality vary widely across organizations |
| 8 | Enterprise Risk Management | Often underdeveloped in smaller utilities; process whisperers can help build practical frameworks |
| 9 | Information Technology Controls | Rapidly evolving environment; current users often have the best read on control gaps |
| 10 | Purchasing | Approval thresholds, vendor selection, and documentation requirements benefit from regular review |
How Would This Work for Your Utility?
If you don't have a Process Whisperer program in place, the path forward is simple: pick one area from the list above, implement the process, and evaluate the results. If it works to your satisfaction, expand the approach organization-wide. The investment is minimal — the insights are already inside your building, waiting to be asked for.
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Disclaimer: The material in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as legal or accounting advice provided by Utility Accounting & Rates Specialists, LLC. You should seek formal advice on this topic from your accounting or legal advisor.