The SmartestEnergy Journey: Gavin Baker on growth, adaptation & a global journey

I began my career at SmartestEnergy in 2008 as a Commercial Analysts after completing a temporary placement with Marubeni. At the time, SmartestEnergy’s commercial analytics team in the UK was hiring, and Marubeni’s HR team encouraged me to apply. The company took a chance on me early in my career, and that opportunity became the foundation for everything I’ve done since.

How the business has evolved since 2008

When I joined, SmartestEnergy was still focused solely on managing generation assets. The launch of the retail business shortly after became a major milestone in our evolution. As we grew, we introduced flexible purchasing products and portfolio-style solutions that helped consultants group smaller customers into competitive buying arrangements. Building on this momentum, SmartestEnergy also played a key role in shaping early UK renewable subsidy programs and helped standardize agreements that supported the development of the renewable certificate market. Together, these efforts aligned with broader industry changes and strengthened SmartestEnergy’s position as an innovator.

The six-year journey of SmartestEnergy US

I moved to the US when the opportunity arose to support SmartestEnergy’s expansion and take on a broader leadership role. It represented a natural progression in my career and a chance to help build a new business from the ground up. My initial priority was establishing a strong wholesale foundation before introducing retail as each market became operationally ready. While we initially expected the UK model to translate, it quickly became clear that the US required far more adaptation across every ISO. With Marubeni’s credit strength supporting early market entry, we built trading capabilities in NYISO, ISO-NE, and PJM and most recently expanded into ERCOT. As the business has grown, our focus has been on aligning wholesale and retail, strengthening systems and utility setups, and refining our product offering to better serve a broader range of customers as we scale.

Looking ahead for SmartestEnergy US

I see our next phase of growth driven by continued market expansion, a more refined offering for different customer segments, and closer alignment with our colleagues across Marubeni and the global SmartestEnergy Group. ERCOT will remain a key focus, and we are also assessing future opportunities in Canada and Mexico. As we scale, the wholesale function will continue evolving from a risk-management role into a broader utility-style capability that supports retail, trading, and potential asset activities. Our success will depend on understanding each market in depth, responding to customer needs with agility, and building on the strong foundation we have established over the past six years.