How we helped a US utility address a strategic, complex and high-stakes project with confidence

This case study is just one example in our spectrum of Capital projects & infrastructure services to a wide variety of industries.

Client issue

A major US utility was finalizing its plans to construct new plants costing several billion dollars. Working in a highly regulated environment, the utility client recognized the importance of a strong control environment to manage the complex cost, schedule, scope, and quality aspects of the project. The utility decided that it needed a governance readiness review to determine whether its systems and controls could support a project of this magnitude and complexity.

PwC action

After meeting our capital project specialists, which includes highly skilled civil and nuclear engineers and regulatory specialists, the client requested PwC to conduct the preliminary readiness review of the organization. Based on the results of that effort, our role was expanded to support overall governance of plans for plant construction and ongoing cost recovery efforts. With a deep understanding of the client's industry, as well as the controls and governance framework required to oversee large capital construction, our team was able to deliver a comprehensive picture of the project's status, risks, and controls throughout different stages of the project's lifecycle.

As part of our governance readiness review, we identified a number of key areas requiring client focus. For example, contracts needed clarification and certain systems needed to be established to provide appropriate governance over the significant capital expenditures related to project implementation. As a solution, we used a framework designed to help the team assess whether existing processes and structures provide a prudent, transparent, and auditable record of management's actions and decisions throughout the course of this massive project.

We also worked with the client to set up the control environment, which involved leveraging data management specialists to develop a system to track the project estimate to complete. We helped our client build a risk and issue management system, develop a master schedule of all project work, and establish a reporting framework for communicating the status of key project metrics to management and regulators.

Impact on client's business

Because funding for our client's new plant will come from utility rates paid by our client's customers, maintaining a proactive and positive relationship with the public and state regulators was paramount to the project's overall success. By putting the proper governance and controls in place to support transparency and accountability, PwC helped our client manage the project prudently.