Business cases

Problem

A national power utility was executing a turnaround of 22 initiatives and about 56 subprojects without the internal governance or project management capability to sustain it. A complex senior stakeholder structure put delivery and benefits at risk once external support ended.

Approach

I established the PMO’s processes, reporting cadence, deliverables and benefits-realisation routines. I selected and trained the internal successor team, including a PMO manager senior enough to engage the executive team, and handed over in stages: leading while they observed, then coaching while they ran the process.

Results

A functioning PMO now governs 22 initiatives and about 56 subprojects. By the end of the trial period, the client team ran the PMO independently, with external support limited to guidance.

My role: Senior engagement manager. Led the PMO set-up and handover.

Problem

Critical materials were often out of stock while other items were overstocked or poorly located. The root causes sat in procurement: technical and procurement staff worked in silos, specifications lacked minimum requirements, and lowest-cost awards often failed to meet operational needs.

Approach

I redesigned the procurement intake and approval workflow: a request form owned by the technical team, with a catalogue of previously successful purchases; joint technical and procurement reviews against a completeness checklist; and approval gates for unbudgeted requests. This formed part of a wider programme of 11 initiatives and 31 projects across procurement, decision-making and digital enablement.

Results

Procurement indicators showed a reduction in average procurement time and a substantial decline in unsuccessful procurements. Technical and procurement teams now validate requirements jointly before a tender is launched.

My role: Senior engagement manager.

Problem

The distributor needed a more efficient and resilient operating model. Technical and commercial losses, planning and forecasting gaps, and regulatory modernisation required coordinated action, while frontline teams often saw symptoms without understanding the root causes.

Approach

I interviewed the chief executive and the directors, tested their priorities against financial and operational records, and benchmarked losses and customer-service performance. I facilitated root-cause and improvement workshops with internal teams, replacing blame with evidence, and reviewed the national distribution code against European standards.

Results

A roadmap of 7 initiatives and 18 projects, each with objectives, KPIs, budget, dependencies, timeline and expected benefits. Management approved the plan after taking part in its development throughout, which reduced resistance to implementation.

My role: Senior engagement manager.

Problem

The utility’s strategy was outdated, high-level and difficult to implement. High losses, performance gaps and weak operational resilience were holding back investment and reform, under government pressure for change.

Approach

I led a multidisciplinary diagnostic. Cross-functional teams assessed the same challenges independently, and I synthesised their work into 31 prioritised initiatives, validated with first- and second-level leaders. I built departmental balanced scorecards that roll up to the corporate level, tracking indicators such as commercial losses, SAIDI and SAIFI.

Results

An integrated five-year roadmap and a capital programme of about $160 million, projected to raise net profit to about $114 million by year five. I supported execution over four years through loss reduction, process re-engineering, demand strategy and a PMO, with varying levels of implementation success.

My role: Principal. Led the diagnostic and the strategy.

Problem

For several years the business had overpaid for water, electricity and raw materials because the supply contract’s cost methodology was being applied incorrectly. This also obscured true input costs. Internally, teams were reluctant to change established processes.

Approach

I reconciled the contract formulas against monthly invoices to isolate unexplained variances, rebuilt the true costs with worked examples, and presented a transparent reconciliation to the supplier. I supported the CFO-led negotiation with the analysis, data and presentations, then validated each monthly invoice against a forecast.

Results

More than $1 million in one-time savings from recovered overpayments. The corrected pricing methodology remained in place, and monthly invoices matched the forecast from the time it was agreed.

My role: Senior business analyst. Supported the CFO-led negotiation.

Problem

The utility had reached the end of its five-year plan and needed a new strategy, with clear initiatives to improve operations, finances and customer service.

Approach

I ran a detailed diagnostic and defined a portfolio of initiatives covering organisational efficiency, customer experience, revenue and cost management, asset management, non-revenue water and regulatory compliance. I designed the organisation structure, business processes and performance management framework, and set up a strategic PMO with its processes, tools and templates.

Results

The five-year strategy and initiative portfolio were delivered. I supported the PMO through six months of implementation, then transferred all of its functions to the utility’s own team.

My role: Workstream lead.

Problem

After several years of financial losses, the distributor had been placed under special government management. Much of its asset base was old, there was no plan to replace critical assets, and service quality was suffering.

Approach

I assessed commercial and technical performance to identify what was holding back results, then built a two-year plan, matching the expected length of the intervention, focused on commercial losses, technical losses, and organisation and operations.

Results

The turnaround plan was delivered to the intervention team as the basis for improving performance while the government decided the company’s future.

My role: Utility expert lead.

Problem

Ageing thermal and hydropower plants, declining lignite quality and output, and financial and operational underperformance left the company exposed as the power market opened to competition.

Approach

I led the strategy and organisation workstream: stakeholder engagement, plant visits, workshops, benchmarking and gap assessment. I then translated the recommendations into initiatives with owners, budgets, timelines, KPIs and risk plans.

Results

A detailed modernisation implementation plan, a ten-year financial outlook and KPI targets, presented to stakeholders as the basis for the programme.

My role: Strategy and organisational workstream lead.

Problem

The regulator doubted the accuracy of the annual submissions from five distribution licensees. Losses, customer numbers and energy billed feed directly into the revenue the regulator allows each year, so errors carried a real financial cost.

Approach

I collected hundreds of commercial and technical data points and ran a five-year analysis, recalculating performance indicators with a standard methodology, from losses to billing and meter-reading efficiency. I compared the results with each licensee’s submissions and reviewed the reporting processes and data governance.

Results

The analysis identified abnormal indicators showing that some licensees had misreported their performance. The regulator shared the findings with the licensees, opening a dialogue on more accurate reporting and better underlying performance.

My role: Principal.

Problem

A 141 MW power plant and a new distribution company serving about 300,000 customers had stalled before full commissioning, with substantial existing debt, high losses and frequent outages. A $125 million capital raise was proposed to complete the project.

Approach

I conducted technical and commercial due diligence and built the project’s financial model, covering generation and distribution operations, demand growth, loss reduction, tariffs, capital requirements, cash generation and debt service, across alternative scenarios.

Results

The preferred scenario showed a 16.35% IRR, a $199.3 million NPV and EBITDA of $89.8 million in year five, with debt cover above 1.5 times from year four. The model was used in lender negotiations, advancing the project towards financial close.

My role: Principal. Built the economic and financial model.