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May 29, 2008

Welcome Back, Jeff!

We'd like to take a break from our normal utility consumer advocacy services to bring you this message: Welcome Back, Jeff!

Some of you will no doubt have seen the lawn signs, ads, or had Jeff Bissonnette come knocking on your door to say hi, tell you why he was running for Portland City Commissioner (Sam Adams's vacated seat), and ask you what were your concerns regarding city government. Jeff had taken a leave of absence for the past few months, but before that you may remember he has been CUB's long-time Organizing Director and Man On The Scene in the Oregon Legislature.

Because of very practical and valid laws governing the use of non-profit organizations' money and voices, we have not mentioned Jeff's campaign before. But now the vote is over, and Jeff came in a close third behind Charles Lewis who was behind Amanda Fritz as the frontrunner. Those two will face each other in a runoff in November, while we will happily welcome Jeff back to his place at CUB.

We would like to congratulate Jeff and his staff and supporters on a well-run campaign, and thank him for being a voice for clean energy solutions in the candidate discussions. We hope that the two remaining candidates will follow Jeff's lead in making those clean and affordable energy discussions high-profile issues and maintaining Portland's reputation as one of the most sustainable cities in the nation. It's not just a feather in our collective municipal cap, it's a web of green energy jobs and market solutions that will prove invaluable as we deal with high gas prices, higher food prices, and increasing signs of global warming.

We know that Jeff enjoyed the many conversations he had on the campaign trail, and we expect that those conversations about energy, the economy, and the environment will serve him well as he continues to be a primary advocate in Oregon for fair and clean energy solutions.

So kudos to Jeff, welcome back, and Bob says, get back to work! Because, honestly, we missed you and we're gonna need you in '09.

Posted by Oregon CUB at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2008

Qwest Customer Gets Help from CUB: Rural Utility Customers Should Watch Out for Franchise Fees

If you live outside of one of Oregon's many cities or towns, in unincorporated territory, you may want to know about the experience of an Oregon utility consumer who recently contacted CUB. A man called CUB a few weeks ago and asked to speak with someone about a problem on his Qwest bill. He was connected with CUB Executive Director Bob Jenks and proceeded to tell his story.

He had noticed a franchise fee for the City of Hermiston on his Qwest telephone bill. Problem was, he didn't live in Hermiston; he lived in Umatilla County outside the City of Hermiston. He contacted Qwest and the customer service representative he spoke with said that the company was allowed to charge him the fee because his telephone line went through the City of Hermiston. He contacted the City of Hermiston, and someone there told him, "No, we only charge that fee to houses within city limits." He contacted the Public Utility Commission and a PUC employee said, "Sorry, but that's not something that we're in charge of overseeing."

This poor man was getting the total runaround. Finally he called CUB.

Bob Jenks told the man that he was right, that Qwest should not be charging him the franchise fee, and that the PUC does regulate the collection of those fees and should have been able to help him. The man's timing was good, because Bob took his concerns to a meeting already set up later that week with Qwest management and a PUC representative. Qwest agreed that they shouldn't be charging the fee outside city limits, and agreed to refund the man what he had paid back quite some time. It's not a large amount of money, but still satisfactory when you know you shouldn't have to pay it.

This incident raises 2 issues for CUB:

1) A customer shouldn't have to make half a dozen calls to get a correct answer and some help.

2) Utilities don't always have good records of who lives within the city vs. outside it, and may well be charging city franchise fees to more than a few people who live outside Oregon cities.

That's why we're encouraging people who do live outside of city limits to check their phone, gas and electric bills to see if city franchise fees appear on them. If they do, and you think the fee is in error, pay your bill and then send it on to us. It's possible this is an isolated problem that doesn't arise often. It's also possible that the problem is more systemic and should be addressed in official proceedings at the PUC.

And after all, that's why we're here.

Posted by Oregon CUB at 04:04 PM | Comments (2)