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« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 » April 26, 2007CUB Speaks to California Legislators About Utility Tax FairnessFollowing the successful passage of SB 408, the 2005 (hotly debated) utility tax reform measure, Oregon has come to be seen as a national leader on the issue of utility taxes and CUB as its resident expert. Along with interviews with reporters from the New York Times and other national media, CUB staff members have also spoken with numerous consumer advocates around the country who are beginning to grapple with similar issues. Such was the case last week when advocates of a California utility tax reform measure flew CUB Executive Director Bob Jenks to Sacramento for a hearing before the California Legislature on AB 1517, a bill which attempts to align utility taxes paid by customers to those paid by companies to the government. The groups behind the bill include TURN (a utility watchdog organization similar to CUB), along with the AARP, and the Utility Systems Director of the South San Joaquin Irrigation District. Aligned against the bill were all the big utilities in California, who brought on their behalf what someone described as "the most powerful contract lobbyists in the state" to work against the bill. "What to me is exciting about this situation in California," said Bob Jenks, "is that we passed our utility tax reform bill here in Oregon only after the debacle with Enron. Now we are hearing from advocates in a number of states that they are using the passage of SB 408 as a springboard to re-examine how utility taxes in their states are calculated. In California, they came to the same conclusion we did here, which was that treating utilities as stand-alones, when they're not, forces customers to pay more than they should." You may remember from reading CUB's in-depth coverage of the SB 408 battle that utility companies such as PGE under the ownership of Enron, had been passing along customers' tax payments to their parent companies, who then took a tax write-off on unrelated corporate losses. The Oregon utility customers' tax payments wound up lining corporate coffers. Shareholders were benefiting, but nobody else: Customers never got a refund and government entities never got a check. Again, from Bob: "Part of what I tried to do for the California committee was dispel some myths about the bill that had been created by PG&E (not to be confused with PGE) who suggested that the Legislature in Oregon has created 'substantial financial uncertainty for utilities.' That is simply not the case -- we just closed a popular corporate loophole." As CUB made clear here in Oregon (and Bob testified in California), "Customers should only pay for their reasonable share of consolidated corporate costs whether those costs are for the CEO, the shareholders, or for taxes." The utility tax reform we helped write and pass in Oregon was fundamentally about fairness, and allocating resources appropriately. We are happy that other states are beginning to address the fairness issue with regard to their own utility taxation, and we're glad that we are able to speak on behalf of fair utility tax laws here and elsewhere. Posted by Oregon CUB at 03:40 PM | Comments (0) April 19, 2007ACTION ALERT: Call Your Representative and Make a Difference for Earth DayTwo critical bills need your help to pass the Oregon House. Put some action into your Earth Day by calling on your legislator to support Clean Energy and the creation of a Global Warming Commission. CLEAN ENERGY That's why we are asking you to keep the RES bill on the move: CALL your Representative in the Oregon House at (800) 332-2313; tell them you support SB 838, the RES bill. We've come a long way with this bill, but we're not there yet; we think we can get the votes we need to pass the House, but we need your help to make it happen. The opposition (led by industrial customers whose statements about the bill have been, in the words of CUB Energy Program Director Jason Eisdorfer, "either misinformed or misleading") has been lobbying hard to stop this bill; we need to make sure that representatives feel the broad base of statewide support for this bill that we know is out there. This may be the most important bill for Oregon's environment, economy, and customer protection that the Legislature will see this session. Global warming makes clean energy an urgent issue. GLOBAL WARMING COMMISSION CALL NOW! CELEBRATE THE EARTH WITH ACTION Make Earth Day more meaningful by adding a scoop of weekday political action to your weekend party. The best thing any Oregonian can do for the Earth is to call your Representative and help pass the RES and the Global Warming Commission bills. Call now, and help make future Earth Days something to celebrate. Posted by Oregon CUB at 03:07 PM | Comments (0) April 12, 2007Renewable Energy Standard Passes in Oregon SenateGreat news from Salem! The Renewable Energy Standard, Senate Bill 838, sailed though the Senate earlier this week with a vote of 20 to 10. This puts the bill in a strong position going forward to the Oregon House, where the fight may be tougher, but the momentum gained will hopefully bring a victory there, too. We appreciate the calls and emails of all our CUB members who talked to their Senators about passing this energy standard, which would bring Oregon to the level of 25% renewable energy by 2025. All of our elected officials in Salem need to understand that global warming has added urgency to our need to switch to green power, and passage of this bill would move us toward green power in a significant way. Now, turn that same energy and enthusiasm toward the House and call your Representative at 800-332-2313 or email through the Legislative website. We need grassroots advocates like you contacting your Representatives, and the need is, if anything, stronger than before. We've been calling this bill "ambitious but achievable" ever since Governor Kulongoski made the proposal in his State of the State Address. This vote brings us halfway to actually achieving our ambitious goal for Oregon. Turning the tide on climate change requires making vast reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions. Starting sooner will ease the cost and the destruction later. Another way for Portland metro area activists to support such change is to come out this Saturday to Portland's Face It Rally to Solve Global Warming. Act now and keep the momentum building toward a sustainable energy future! Posted by Oregon CUB at 02:51 PM | Comments (0) April 05, 2007CUB Tackles Telecommunications Issues in SalemWe have spoken most recently and most often in CUB Online about the clean energy legislation CUB is advocating in Salem, but we also are working hard at the Capitol on telecommunications issues. Today we want to share with you some information and analysis about two telecom bills that are before the Oregon Legislature. The good news is that a Telecommunications Consumers' Bill of Rights is back, HB 2008, introduced by Rep. Phil Barnhart and Rep. Diane Rosenbaum. It is long past time Oregon telecommunications customers should have these basic protections, things like "clear and complete information about rates," "right to personal privacy," "accurate and understandable bills," and of course, the right "to select telecommunications providers and vendors and to have those selections respected by telecommunications utilities." In other words, no slamming allowed. Earlier this week, CUB Executive Director Bob Jenks traveled to Salem to give testimony in support of HB 2008, and we include portions of that testimony below. Another bill being discussed is HB 2621, and this one is harder to support. This bill, which both Qwest and the Public Utility Commission endorse, would end rate regulation of all telephone rates except basic service. This means that the phone companies could raise rates for many other services and features (such as call waiting, 3-way calling, and business services features) that go along with basic local phone service. In addition, the bill says that the phone company can ask the Commission to raise the rates for basic local service in three years. The reason the PUC is on board with the bill is that it would also provide increased consumer protection, allowing the Commission to investigate and address complaints having to do with all voice telephone services, including wireless, cable and voice-over-the-Internet (VOIP). Currently, the PUC deals with local phone complaints, has some limited authority to handle wireless complaints, and no authority over cable and VOIP. We do wholeheartedly endorse the consumer protection aspects of the bill but are troubled by the change to regulatory practice, which would make it difficult if not impossible for CUB to argue against a rate hike if one were to be proposed by the phone companies three years from now. Currently, we can go to the PUC and argue that this is an industry whose costs are declining, and that companies therefore do not need to charge customers more for the telecommunications services they rely on to connect them to friends, family and necessary services. However, if this bill were to pass, the price of phone service would be "disconnected" from the company's cost, the standards for approving rate hikes would become far more subjective, and we might be forced to see ordinary home and business phone service increase by leaps and bounds. That we cannot support. So we will continue to monitor HB 2621, and to advocate strongly for HB 2008, knowing that well-protected telecommunications utility services are a cornerstone for the healthy functioning of Oregon families, businesses and communities.
I am pleased to be here today to testify in support of HB 2008. HB 2008 is a simple straight-forward bill. If the telecommunications industry was as straight-forward as this bill, a change in the law would not be necessary. But it is necessary. Attached to my testimony is a chart showing that for five of the last six years, consumer complaints about telecommunications have topped the Attorney General list of consumer complaints. The only year that the telecom industry did not top this list was 2005, when it was number two. This bill goes to the heart of these complaints. It states that customers have a right to get clear and complete information about rates, and that consumers can only be charged the rates that they have agreed to pay. It is common to see promotional materials for telecommunication services and products that do not disclose the actual price of those products. It is common to hear Oregonians tell you that they were not charged what was promised. Like many Oregonians, I have had my own consumer problems with this industry. Once I was billed for a DSL modem that had been offered as "free" during a promotion and the company threatened to shut off my phone service for not paying for the free product, even though in Oregon they are not allowed to shut off phone service over a billing dispute unrelated to basic phone service. Another time, I was billed double the promised rate for adding a second phone to my wireless service. When I challenged it, I was told that I would have to pay an early termination fee to get out of the charge. Only after I threatened to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office and to take the company to small claims court, did they agree to charge me what I had been promised. This bill is necessary because my bad experiences are not uncommon. However, most people don't have my ability to fight back. This bill changes that. It states that consumers have a right to accurate information about services; consumers have a right to be charged what was promised; consumers have a right to expect their personal information will be protected; and consumers have a right to non-discriminatory prices. This bill sends a powerful message to the telecommunications industry, an industry that seems to have no problem with being number one on the AG's complaint list every year. It is time for the telecom industry to clean up its act. Rather than downplay the problem, it is time to address it. It is time to treat customers with the respect that we deserve. Posted by Oregon CUB at 04:08 PM | Comments (0) |
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Maybe
it's time to put your number on the national Do Not Call list.