BALANCE BASICS
What are the three pressures every utility must balance?
Customer, System, Regulation
How do customers experience the system?
Bills, outages, communication
What does TMF stand for?
Technical, Managerial, Financial
What is the main purpose of regulation?
Protect public health
A customer calls angry about their bill. You don’t have all the answers yet.
What do you do first?
Acknowledge + communicate what you know
What happens when a system focuses ONLY on keeping customers happy?
Rates stay low, system deteriorates
Why do customers feel their bill should cover everything?
They don’t see full system costs
What is a sign a system is operating reactively?
Emergency repairs, deferred maintenance
What do regulators expect most?
Consistency, documentation, follow-through
A pump fails, but customers haven’t noticed yet.
What pressure do you focus on FIRST?
System (stabilize first)
What happens when ONLY the system is prioritized?
High rates, affordability issues
What creates the “gap” between customers and the system?
Expectations vs reality
What happens when workload exceeds capacity?
Burnout, mistakes increase
What causes most violations?
Process breakdowns (not water quality)
You missed a reporting deadline.
What is the FIRST thing you should do?
Notify and document (don’t ignore it)
What is the biggest risk when regulation becomes the only focus?
Burnout, deferred maintenance
Why do small rate increases feel big?
Financial stress + perception
What is the difference between planned work and emergency work?
Predictable vs reactive and costly
If it’s not documented, what does it mean?
It didn’t happen
Staff is overwhelmed and everything feels urgent.
What’s the biggest risk in this situation?
Mistakes + poor prioritization
Why is balance important in decision-making?
Prevents long-term failure and conflict
What happens when expectations don’t match reality?
Trust erodes, pressure increases
Why do systems fail compliance most often?
Lack of capacity, not lack of effort
What are the three key compliance actions systems must do?
Test, report, respond
You did everything right… but you can’t find the documentation.
What happens next?
It didn’t happen (compliance issue)