Energy News

Electra is ‘working smarter’ by using technology to help better manage its legal compliance risks.

When Electra’s board asked for more confidence about legal compliance risks, Deputy Chief Executive Steve Gregan made it his mission to find a better way than swamping busy people with more manuals, spreadsheets and attestations. 

Q. Why did you start looking for a legal compliance tool?

Steve:  Our Board and Risk and Audit Committee sought increased confidence in the process that was in place. Senior managers were signing off attestations but there was no real confidence that there was any testing against the detail in the legislation occurring across the organisation.

The new health and safety legislation coming into effect provided further impetus for change. Keeping our people and the public safe and ensuring compliance with the legislation is our number one risk.

At the heart of it all, it was about creating more confidence for everybody.

Q. How was the business keeping on top of legislative changes?

Steve: We were previously reliant on managers keeping up to date with any legal changes that were relevant to them and their teams. Some might have been getting email updates from law firms, but it was very reliant on those individuals to pick up on the changes. There was a risk we might miss something given the vast quantity of legislation that applies to our industry.

Q. Why did you go with the ComplyWith solution?

Steve: I had heard of ComplyWith when working for an SOE a few years earlier and understood it to be a good tool, up to date, and relatively easy to use and implement.

It helped that I was able to reference check ComplyWith with other electricity distributors that were using it, including WEL Networks and Alpine Energy. Having all the legal compliance content for an electricity distributor ready to go was a big plus over the option of trying to develop our own content internally or through the use of external lawyers.

I think the user interface of ComplyWith could do with improving and it’s good to know that work is under way.

Q. How was the implementation?

Steve: I was tasked with being the internal champion for the project and enjoyed driving the process.

It was great having a capable team from ComplyWith come in, interview the key staff and profile our operations against the legislation. Lauren from ComplyWith was excellent having sound knowledge of the industry, its complexities and what our people do.

There was not a heavy workload for us to do other than support the process and it did not put too much demand on any individual’s time, which again helped with getting better buy-in.

Q. Now you have implemented the ComplyWith tool, is it worth it?

Steve: Yes. Even before the first reporting round was completed we’d identified areas where improved awareness of the legal requirements resulted in risks being identified and addressed.

While it is still relatively early days for us, I’ve had great feedback from our Board and the Risk & Audit Committee. They now have greater confidence in our management and reporting of our legal compliance risks.

People in our business have a better understanding of what the law requires of us and will continue to do so as the law continues to change.

Success isn’t about getting people to say everything is 100% perfect all the time. The key to managing legal risks is in knowing what they are. At Electra we are all confident we are doing much better at this.

ComplyWith helps businesses achieve their goals by keeping them out of trouble. We do this by humanising the law to empower your people with knowledge. This enables better decision-making and proactive risk management.

ComplyWith is used by more than 110 New Zealand ComplyWith is building a strong community in the electricity distribution sector. Current subscribers are: Alpine Energy, EA Networks, Electra, MainPower, Network Waitaki, Vector, Waipa Networks and WEL Networks.