The History of Cub

The Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon (CUB), an independent non-partisan non-profit, was created in 1984 by a ballot initiative to work for you, the residential utility customer. We’ve worked hard for the last three decades making sure that ratepayers like you and me are represented vigorously before the Oregon Public Utility Commission and the Oregon Legislature. CUB is the only group funded by Oregon residential ratepayers to speak for residential customers when privately-owned utilities are bought, sold, ask for rate increases or move to change the statutes and rules. CUB speaks for electric, natural gas and telecommunications customers on issues that affect everything from your and our bills to the air we all breathe.

In 1985 the elected Board of Governors incorporated CUB as a 501(c)(4) non-profit.  The following year, in 1986, the Board of Governors incorporated the CUB Educational Fund as a 501(c)(3) non-profit (now the CUB Policy Center) to form the educational sister-organization of CUB.

CUB understands that although money is a big concern for Oregon’s residential ratepayers that it’s far from the only concern. That’s why, in addition to fighting rate hikes, we also work tirelessly to fight for clean and efficient energy alternatives. Since being established in 1984, CUB has saved consumers over $5.3 billion from rate increases. We’ve also won important policy victories that have protected low-income Oregonians, consumer privacy, and the environment—including vital work on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon alternatives.

Throughout the last three decades of service, CUB has had some big wins:

• We led the effort to create the Energy Trust of Oregon, which established Oregon as a national leader in energy efficiency investments. In the decade since the formation of the ETO, Oregon has continually been in the top three states for energy efficiency investments. Since its creation, ETO has reduced energy consumption in Oregon by an amount equivalent to the annual electric consumption of 207,000 households (for comparison, Portland has 237,269 houses)

• CUB led the opposition to Enron’s radical electric deregulation scheme, which would have dismantled our electric utilities, sold off their generation assets (including our low-cost hydro facilities) and kicked customers out into a non-existent retail marketplace.  In the first year of Enron’s plan, electric rates would have increased 5-fold to more than 30 cents/kWh.

• In 2005, CUB pulled folks from the environmental community and the utilities together to negotiate the bill that created Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio Standard – the requirement that utilities acquire 25% of their power from new renewable resources by 2025. This legislation gave Oregon one of the strongest renewable requirements in the nation.

• After successfully challenging PacifiCorp’s plans to build three new coal plants, CUB set its sights on PGE’s Boardman coal plant. During two years of tireless work CUB, created a consensus with environmental groups, PGE and state agencies for closing the plant early and we succeeded.  State agencies approved a plant requiring Boardman to close by 2020.

• From a settlement with Qwest related to deregulating some phone services, CUB won agreement for creation of a new entity to assist ratepayers with comparing prices and offering in the broad telecommunications marketplace. From this, in 2011, CUB Connects was born.

CUB has been a protector of Oregon ratepayers for nearly three decades, and as we look towards Oregon’s clean energy future, we need your help to keep working. Learn how to become a CUB supporter today.

Here is a video from our archives, detailing the 1984 ballot initiative that founded CUB: