Colette Kenney, P.Eng.
I help small businesses find where their hours go, fix the problem with AI tools, and prove the result with numbers they can check.
- 20 years
- Project controls on Alberta oil and gas engineering projects: budgets, forecasts, cost reports and change control
- P.Eng.
- Professional engineer
- Now
- Account management and sales at Energy Associates International, owning each client from first call to signed contract
- Founder
- Baseline Energy, an independent energy advisory program within Energy Associates International
- Master's
- Counselling Psychology, Yorkville University
What I do now
I work in account management and sales at Energy Associates International, through my Baseline Energy program. I own each commercial client from the first conversation to the signed contract and the renewal. That means explaining how Alberta's electricity and natural gas markets work, reviewing their invoices and usage, building and comparing price quotes, and looking after the contract through its term.
To do that work faster and with fewer errors, I built internal tools for EAI: a usage calculator, a contract decoder and a quote builder, plus a weekly script that loads the latest Alberta forward prices into them. Every tool shows each intermediate step, so any number can be checked by hand. They are internal to EAI, so they are not shown here.
What I bring to a small firm
Find the real problem
Clients usually ask for a feature, like "can AI write our emails?" I ask about the last time the work was done, how often it happens and how long it takes. The real problem is usually upstream: missing documents, rework, or a senior person doing work someone else could do.
Put a number on it
Every problem gets a yearly cost, with each figure marked as stated, estimated or assumed. The price of the fix is set from the value it creates, and every calculation is shown so the client can check it.
Build the smallest fix that works
First I check what the client's existing software can already do. Then I build the fix with Claude, ChatGPT or Codex, whichever suits the client: a Project, a skill or a simple tool. I test it against written pass rates before anything goes live.
Get people using it
A tool nobody opens saves nothing. I plan short training on the team's own work, write plain usage rules, answer the "will this replace me?" question honestly, and measure use at 30 days.
How I work
- Every number has a source.Stated by the client, estimated, or assumed. Twenty years of cost reporting taught me that a number nobody can trace is a number nobody trusts.
- Tests are written before testing.A test written after seeing the result is not a test. Failures go in the log as clearly as passes.
- AI drafts. A person decides.Decisions, approvals and anything sent to a client stay with a person.
- Check existing software first.If a tool the client already pays for solves the problem, set it up and skip the AI build.
- Plain language.If a busy business owner cannot follow it on the first read, I rewrite it.
Background
I spent twenty years as a project controller on Alberta oil and gas engineering projects, working on contract through my own company, IMCK Corp. Project controls is the discipline of knowing where the money and hours are going, forecasting where they will end up, and catching problems early enough to fix them.
I founded Baseline Energy, an independent energy advisory program within Energy Associates International. I teach business clients every day how Alberta's electricity and natural gas markets work, and how to read their energy invoices. I designed and built the Alberta Energy Broker Quote Decoder, a public web tool that shows businesses whether their energy quote is fair.
My Master's in Counselling Psychology shapes how I handle the human side of change: listening to the people who doubt a new tool, and making it easy for them to try it.
Tools I use
AI
Claude (Projects and skills), ChatGPT and Codex. I direct AI coding tools to build working software, and I check every intermediate step.
Currently learning
n8n, Make and Zapier for workflow automation.
Web and data
APIs and webhooks for connecting systems, Netlify and serverless functions, Supabase, Cloudflare Turnstile, Kit and HubSpot for email, Python scripts for weekly data updates, Excel models.
Business software
Microsoft 365, and learning the practice tools each client already uses before suggesting anything new.
Contact
I work best with small organizations, close to the people who run them. Send me a note and I will reply within two business days.