Translating Technical Content into Clear Utility Communication

April 3, 2026

As a co-op kid and former co-op communicator, I can talk for hours about the electric industry. I grew up riding the backroads of the service territory on Sundays after church. Honestly, anytime we left the house and had time to spare we would take backroads. We always knew if dad was taking the long way home, we better be prepared to be “car trapped” for an hour or 2. We were trained to look at the lines and spot potential issues like a leaning pole, streetlights out, and broken cross arms. Dad reaching to the side of his console to radio into dispatch, followed by his truck number and the co-op’s call sign, will live in my mind forever.

Annie, a friend, and her dad in his office. — When I was little, our house was just around the corner from the co-op due to a 5-minute response time. That goes without saying that I spent many days up at the co-op’s original building and it was like my second home.

My childhood is not the norm for most. Even with all this “experience” growing up, my lineman husband will start any conversation where he explains a work project with “this won’t make any sense to you, but…” and proceed to go into great detail on the job he built or a troubleshooting adventure.

The utility industry is full of complex and technical information, and even some state or federal regulations, that must be understood by the average consumer. Our consumers don’t speak or think in utility terms like we do. Every touchpoint, from in-person interactions, to phone conversations, to hands-off experiences online, creates an opportunity. Speaking in person or on the phone allows for dialog but online is a monologue.

So how do we effectively communicate the technical details of our industry on our website? Often, we find online utility content is accurate but hard to comprehend due to industry complexities. To create effective, humanized online experiences, we must consider copy, structure and visuals.

Clear Content

Most website visitors are looking for quick answers and easy to digest information. On top of that, research shows the average website visitor reads at a 4th to 5th grade level. Website content is not always the time to apply eloquent language and throw out the $100 words.

Petit Jean Electric Co-op's Ways to Pay page on a mobile device — Visualizing your Ways to Pay page takes an action that is not always fun, like paying a utility bill, and adds an engaging factor, while also making the information easy to comprehend.

Craft your message with plain language rather than using industry jargon. When we throw around industry terms, there is an opportunity for misunderstanding, confusion, and frustration. Topics like outage restoration efforts, rates, board nomination requirements, and energy rebates need clear, everyday language. Here are a few examples to consider:

Peak Demand: Use “Electric use will be high today and we may not have enough to meet demand” rather than saying “Today’s peak demand is expected to exceed capacity.”
Rates & Power Cost Adjustment: Use “Part of your bill changes based on the cost to generate electricity” rather than “PCA adjusts based on fuel price volatility.”
Board Nominations: Lay out the process, requirements, and application steps in clear language and reference the bylaws rather than simply copying and pasting the bylaws.

With plain language, your message is not only better understood, but it is better translated for website visitors who may speak a language other than English. Another example, rather than saying “on the grounds you do not comply” simply say “if you don’t.” Clear statements like these are not only better translated, but they remove the noise for website visitors when explaining terms and conditions to remain on certain programs.

Accessibility Expectations

Petit Jean Electric Co-op's homepage with an alert promoting 85 years. — Alerts can be used to communicate outage information, call-to-action items, or events.

Accessibility is not just about compliance and avoiding a potential lawsuit. It is meeting your website visitors where they are. As communicators who wear many hats, we carefully tailor every area of our work to create the best experience, like ensuring Annual Meetings have plenty of kids’ activities for young families, and websites should be met with the same intentionality.

Additionally, design plays into accessibility compliance. Ensuring your site is easy to navigate and has a thoughtful design matters. While elements like flip cards, scrolling banners, and rolling ticker messages may look nice and bring animation and engagement, these items are not accessible for all website visitors. Rather, lean on intentional homepage promotional spaces to spotlight programs and services and use a click-to-close banners for important, temporary announcements. The Alerts web app is the perfect solution for disseminating these temporary messages, like outages, scheduled maintenance, offices closures, upcoming board deadlines, and engaging events.

Engaging Visuals

Words are great, but visuals bring impact. Powerful’s collection of web apps brings visual elements to any page. The more than 15 proprietary web apps help bring to life less engaging topics that need to be on your site in an appealing way:

Rate Plans: The Rate Plans web app brings life to rates with the ability to list out key features.
Broadband Labels: The Rate Plans web app includes a built-in broadband label feature to make it easy to generate an intuitive label.
Governance: Board agendas, minutes, and packets display nicely in a table when using the Agendas & Minutes web app for website visitors to quickly find resources.

Sam Houston Electric Cooperative's outage center viewed on a phone. — When it comes to outages, having a responsive website designed on a mobile-first basis alleviates added frustration.

When possible, enhance your copy so site visitors engage more with your message. Visualized pages are always great for high traffic pages, like the Outage Center, and complex topics like Understanding Your Bill or Renewables. Sam Houston Electric Co-op invested in their site and visualized these pages to be a resource for their members.

Sometimes, there is not budget to visualize all the pages with technical information. Likewise, your entire site doesn’t need to be visualized as it reduces the overall impact and strategy in selecting these pages. That is where intentional use of web apps comes in.

Take Action

Communicators strive to create memorable experiences through a humanized online transaction in our communications strategies. Websites should see constant updates, evolving to fit communications needs. As you work on your site, keep your website visitors top of mind and consider how they scan web pages for content. Clear copy and intentional visuals, all while being mindful of accessibility, will help ensure your message is easily understood. The Powerful team of web experts is here to help if questions arise!