Brian Coughlan is the Founder and President of Utility Management Services (UMS), which he established after recognizing a widespread problem: most businesses were unknowingly overpaying on their utility bills, and their utility providers had little incentive to tell them.
Brian brings a rare combination of deep engineering expertise and real-world utility industry experience to every client engagement. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University, and an MBA from UNC–Chapel Hill. He is a registered Professional Engineer, Certified Energy Manager, Certified Energy Auditor, Certified Energy Procurement Professional, and Certified Demand Side Management Professional.
Before founding UMS, Brian spent 15 years as an engineer and manager at Carolina Power & Light Company, now known as Duke Energy Progress. That experience working inside a major utility company gave Brian an insider’s understanding of how utility rates are structured, how billing errors occur, and where savings opportunities are most commonly overlooked. It’s that knowledge that became the foundation of UMS’s proprietary analytical approach.
Today Brian leads a team of certified energy professionals who have helped businesses, municipalities, schools, healthcare systems, and nonprofits across the country recover millions of dollars in utility savings, all on a no-risk, contingency basis.