Founder and CEO
Mike Jennings, Founder and President, has more than 35 years experience in the energy business. After eleven years at PG&E, Mike started a firm that could provide the pent-up demand for comprehensive energy services: energy trading, energy engineering and energy accounting.
In his early years, Mike worked for the State of California as an energy expert to food processing and agricultural operations around California. After completing his master’s degree in engineering from Fresno State, Mike worked at PG&E where he provided service to large customers in the central valley, contributed to the development of utility tariffs, and acted as the utility spokesperson.
Following PG&E, Mike managed a team of engineers and technicians at a civil engineering firm before starting Spectrum Energy Solutions.
In 1996, Mike began Spectrum by consulting with the same customers he had served at PG&E, extending them options that the utility could not deliver. Mike has established business relationships with the best natural gas and electricity suppliers in the business for the purpose of managing our client’s natural gas and electricity purchases.
Why establish a full service energy brokerage and consulting firm?
Mike left Pacific Gas and Electric in 1996 to address his customer’s pent-up demand for
non-standard solutions that reduce energy costs. Mike’s vision included the development of
a full spectrum of options and non-traditional solutions for his clients to reduce their
energy cost. He founded the company that is now Spectrum Energy Solutions. The firm enjoys
a position as an industry leader.
Providing energy assurance to our clients
The proliferation of solar generation has created a particular need for our professional
energy services. We provide consultation and assurance to clients who are
in one of the three stages of buying solar generation: those who are considering solar,
those who have
committed to a solar project and those who have completed a solar project. We find a wide
range of project performance, from those projects that are oversized to those that are
underperforming. We also review solar contracts for our clients to ensure that their project
is living up to any contractor guarantees.
As bona fide energy accounting professionals we provide energy assurance
that our
customers are paying the least amount possible for their gas and electricity. This service
is akin to the tax related work that a CPA does.
We provide client energy assurance by showing them a wide range of energy
cost
reduction no-investment options. We use our Scorecard to prioritize customer-specific
opportunities for each client.
We provide client energy assurance by simplifying complex utility issues
and
presenting them as opportunities to our clients. An example of this is our review of the
Utility new business process, which can be confusing and arbitrary.
We provide energy assurance to our clients by interceding and advocating
for our
clients on Utility issues in the grey areas that are open to interpretation.
Knowledge is power. You don’t know what you don’t know. You may suspect that you are overpaying for natural gas and electricity, but you can’t be certain.
Spectrum’s central theme for doing business is to make the complexities of the energy business seem simple to our clients. We do this by sorting out the noise and getting to the energy issues that matter.
You need an energy expert in your corner; someone who can advocate for you and evaluate the claims of sales people.
We make the complex simple: Would you do your own taxes or would you use a CPA?
How do I know if I need your services?
Our menu of services is robust and we address the full spectrum of possible energy cost
savings for every client. We have created proprietary tools that keep us accountable to you;
tools like our “Energy Scorecard”.
Do I have the least cost possible for my energy?
We will line out the opportunities and present them using our Scorecard.
How do you charge for these services?
We customize our fee schedules and offer a fee that suits each client.
- Performance based fee: this is less risky for our clients and it depends on our bona fide
- Hourly fee: This is a traditional consultancy approach
- Fixed fee: This fee allows you the certainty of a guaranteed fee for the entire project
- A combination of the above fee elements