In 1975 Orville J. Fleming, (OJ), together with James (Jim) Cillesen, left their place of employ to start a new electrical contracting firm, Northern Electrical Contractors, Inc. (NEC) in Denver Colorado. OJ was a master electrician with the hands-on field experience. Jim brought estimating, purchasing and project management skills. They rented a small office in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. With a bit of help from Jim's brother's, Cillesen Construction, and a lot of hard work, the two were able to establish a fairly strong business. Soon they purchased land and built a building on HWY 72 near the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, CO. They had developed a niche in contracting and focused primarily on industrial and correctional projects in remote locations across the US. 

OJ organically grew his field staff by handpicking hardworking, loyal electricians who would travel anywhere the work took them. Some of these loyal employees continued through the entities that followed and spent their entire careers working with OJ.  

Within a few short years Jim and OJ had differing business goals and OJ purchased Jim's portion of ownership. Within a year of running the company by himself, NEC was sold to a large electrical contractor named Fischbach which dates back to 1918 and went public in 1960. Important to note that to this day, Jim Cillesen operates his new firm that was named Interstate Electrical Contractors, Inc.  

NEC prospered during its first few years as a public company. Revenue grew to over $35M. The largest project was one in Bremerton, WA that itself was valued at $35M. However, the public parent company experienced financial issues that prevented NEI from continuing in its current form. In addition, headlining news was made when Victor Posner and Ivan Boesky's attempt to gain control of the company came under scrutiny.

Important to note that Tyler Fleming, son of OJ Fleming began working for NEC as a laborer in the summer of 1984 at 14 years age.  This was the start of many years of working with Northern Electric and future entities. Also, Albert Fisher would go on to work at a future entity, ICS, and later form a new Nothern entity with OJ Fleming.

In the start of the new millennium, OJ Fleming decided to start a new Northern Electric, Inc. (NEI) with Albert (Al) Fisher.  Per the filing, the corporation was formed in April of 2001. Initially they had a third party partner who determined to not buy in on the risk associated with this business. It is typical that all partners will need to personally guarantee for banking and bonding. Joe Dopler, a master electrician who also started working for ICS, an earlier entity, opted to take this risk. The three believed they had the "dream team" with all being master electricians. OJ had years of experience founding and operating electrical contractors and was expert at building trust and relations with bankers and bonding agents. Al Fisher brought with him expertise in estimating, project management and purchasing. Joe had up-to-date,  hands-on knowledge of the trades and electrical codes, as well as a base of loyal electricians ready to come back to the Northern team. 

NEI initially focused on its niche of working on industrial electrical and special systems projects in remote areas. The growth of the company was extraordinary. While they stared with minimal capital, they were able to use the experience and relationships to catapult their trajectory faster than any earlier companies. In the early 2010's NEI started to perform work for oil and gas companies primarily in the North Dakota Bakken. This launched NEI to new heights with this very lucrative time and material contracts. NEI was able to do what it does best - industrial work in remote locations.   This work even expanded to the manufacturing of e-houses that were delivered to various oil fields all across North Dakota.

By 2010, Tyler T. Fleming, who started at the original Northern Electrical Contractors in 1984, had joined the management team at NEI, and eventually was named Chief Financial Officer. 

The prompt success of NEI was remarkable. Like most companies that are growing, NEI determined to attempt to keep its revenue in the $100M a year range. In 2014, the company also made a large investment in its new corporate headquarters, a 110,000 square feet building, as highlighted in its news release.

Around 2014, NEI chose to invest in a solar power business, Northern Energy and Power, LLC. This business is highlighted below and was its own success story, not only as an operating entity, but as a spin-off. 

The collapse of oil prices in 2014-2016 quickly made the oil and gas work largely disappear. NEI had to pivot back to traditional bid projects. The typical hard-bid work is much more difficult to make money at that in earlier days of the other entities. Nearly every project resulted in large claims against general contractors and owners. The workforce changed substantially from the days when good craftsmen were loyal and would travel wherever required. Instead workers would jump across the street to other companies for a few dollars an hour more. This environment was and still is extremely difficult to operate a profitable electrical contracting firm within.  

In 2017 and 2018, the ownership of NEI determined to start looking for an exit strategy. While Joe Dopler was still young, Al and OJ were nearing retirement age. NEP was spun off (more below). NEI and its assets, and remaining affiliates were sold to a portfolio company owned by a private equity group, named Amteck. According to press, Amteck subsequently was sold to a large publicly traded company named Comfort Systems USA.  

OJ Fleming soon after retired. Al Fisher went on to work for a large, portfolio company of a private equity firm. Joe Dopler worked for Amteck for the remainder of his management contract, before working with his sons and their Home Town Electrical Services, Inc.  

Tyler Fleming focused on his real estate skills and worked for a custom homebuilder in Las Vegas until 2025. Tyler then created The Northern Group LLC a NV series LLC to continue the legacy of the Northern name.