Case Study: Transforming Procurement at Jersey Electricity: Driving Savings and Sustainable Change

25 May
Posted by: Vaida Maksims
Category: Case Studies
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Jersey Electricity case study image showcasing procurement optimisation and supplier management within a utilities organisation.

Faced with ambitious zero-carbon targets and unique operational challenges, Jersey Electricity needed a complete rethink of procurement. Here’s how a strategic partnership delivered substantial savings, streamlined processes, and lasting cultural change.

Jersey Electricity launched a comprehensive review of its procurement function, covering scoping, discovery, planning and implementation across:

  • Spend analysis
  • Category management
  • Systems
  • Processes
  • People

Barkers supported the utility by establishing category councils, reviewing tendering and negotiation practices, and embedding new processes across the organisation. The engagement delivered £750k in savings in the first year, alongside process standardisation, system improvements, and organisational restructuring.

By combining financial, operational and cultural interventions, Barkers helped Jersey Electricity overcome the constraints of an isolated market, limited resources, and complex regulations, while preparing the company to meet its ambitious zero-carbon goals by 2050.

Challenge

Jersey Electricity operates in a highly isolated environment with a uniquely challenging economic and regulatory landscape. Limited resources, a restricted pool of service providers, supply chain logistics, and local legal regulations all complicate procurement activities.

Jersey’s ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon by 2050 requires significant improvements within a short timeframe and with minimal resources. Barkers supported initiatives including:

  • Achieving cost savings to fund other strategic projects.
  • Organisational changes within the Procurement and wider supply chain teams.
  • Process improvements covering procurement, inventory management, P2P, financial workflows, delegation of authority, and credit card usage.
  • System implementations including asset management, procurement, contract management, and contractor compliance.

Solution

Barkers provided a senior procurement and commercial consultant with experience in procurement, commercial strategy, communications, and stakeholder management. Support was scaled over time depending on the business’s readiness for change.

The approach included:

  • Project, people, and stakeholder management
  • Communication planning
  • Process design and implementation
  • Data analytics and procurement techniques (tender management, supplier relationship management, negotiations, spend analysis)

Every initiative began with an “as-is” assessment, followed by gap and stakeholder impact analysis. Implementation plans were carefully designed around change management principles to ensure adoption.

A key focus was fostering a cultural shift—encouraging staff to question “we’ve always done it that way” and adopt innovative approaches. Barkers led by example, tackling projects beyond the initial scope to demonstrate practical new methodologies.

The team was reorganised into sustainable long-term roles, systems were implemented, and process controls embedded to secure improvements. Throughout, Barkers balanced project timelines with strong commercial outcomes.

Result

Barkers’ approach delivered both measurable financial savings and lasting organisational improvements. The combination of process redesign, system implementation, and cultural change ensured that Jersey Electricity could achieve its objectives efficiently and sustainably.

Key outcomes included:

  • Delegation of Authority updates: improved system access, credit card usage, and spend approval processes.
  • New travel policy implemented.
  • Procurement department restructure: aligning team strengths with required roles, ensuring rotation and succession planning.
  • System implementations:
    • Infor EAM (asset management and procurement modules).
    • Contract management system (visibility of spend, risk reduction, avoiding unwanted renewals).
    • Contractor compliance management tool, including negotiated discounts and benefits for compliant contractors.
    • Task management system.
  • Financial savings: £750k in year one, £550k in year two.
  • Secured supply continuity during challenging geopolitical situations (Brexit, COVID).

“Barkers approach to our challenge delivery impressed me. Jersey Electricity faces a lot of different challenges, and therefore it is tough to find the right people – especially people that would fit our requirements. Being a small and strongly diversified business in a geographically isolated environment, we needed a versatile specialist to come in and advise on multiple different topics. Barkers delivered just that. The consultant working with us was not only strong in the primary field of expertise (Procurement) but could as firmly ask challenging questions to technical people. Working in this way allowed Barkers to expand the primary scope and Jersey Electricity to receive valuable support.”

Mark Preece, Operations Director, Jersey Electricity

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Author: Vaida Maksims
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