Roasters Turn Up the Heat on Bob

On Thursday, May 10th our staff, supporters and colleagues came together to commemorate 20 great years of Bob Jenks as the Executive Director of CUB. In an effort to honor his past and toast to the future, special guests were given an opportunity to roast Bob last week at Jam on Hawthorne. Attendees enjoyed a wonderful show full of good laughs and hilarious anecdotes.  Some of the highlights included Jill and Macy, Bob’s wife and daughter, talking about Bob through the years and… Full Post >>

CUB’s New Schaich Intern

Less than a month ago, I started here at CUB as an Event Planning Intern to assist in the coordination of our second annual policy conference. I was initially drawn to CUB due to its strong history of consumer protection and progressive attitudes for the future of energy use. Sustainable, community-oriented public policy has been as the forefront of my academic and professional pursuits. Since earning a B.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy from Occidental College, I have had a number of jobs focused on policy… Full Post >>

NW Natural Claims Customers are Making Homes Too Efficient!?

In previous posts, we have discussed NW Natural’s proposal to raise the monthly customer charge to $29/month.
 

Last week was CUB’s chance to respond to NW Natural’s proposal.  In examining the company’s request, we concluded that the purpose of NW Natural’s proposal seems to be to encourage customers to spend less on conservation.  By increasing the portion of your bill that is a monthly fixed charge unaffected by your usage, NW Natural is reducing your incentive to conserve… Full Post >>

BPA Wind Curtailment Update

It’s that time of year again—spring!  Spring means of a lot of things here in the Northwest—blooming flowers, planting gardens, a little less rain, and (most important to this native Texan) a little more sunshine.  Warmer temperatures mean that the snowpack in the Cascades and Rockies is melting.  That water makes its way to the streams, rivers, and lakes that ultimately flow into the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS).  Combine that with the rain that we already get during the spring and early summer here, and you’ve… Full Post >>

Looking into the Future of Energy

Last week I had the pleasure of attending once again the Future Energy Conference, one of two conferences held annual here in Portland and up in Seattle. The conference is a wonderful opportunity to bring together folks from all aspects of the energy sector, discussing policy, business, and sharing insights.

At last year’s conference, Governor John Kitzhaber announced his vision of a 10-year energy plan, and this year he followed up on that announcement during his lunchtime keynote on Wednesday. The Governor… Full Post >>

House Parties with CUB!

As CUB’s Board of Governors’ Chair, I’m delighted to announce that CUB has renewed its tradition of hosting house parties to reach out to neighborhoods and communities throughout Oregon, building on our membership through personal and professional relationships.

I knew things were going well at my first house party for CUB in SE Portland when the house was full of animated conversation and everyone ended up in the kitchen. Co-hosting a house party to raise awareness about the work CUB does for ratepayers and the… Full Post >>

Are Electric Vehicles Truly Cleaner?

CLIMATE IMPACT

A report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists puts to rest a question that has been dogging the electric vehicle industry and causing consumers to doubt the environmental benefits of electrical vehicles (EVs): are the greenhouse gas emissions of an EV actually lower than a conventional car using gasoline fuel? This question stems from the concern that because electric vehicles are plugging in to our nation’s electrical grid to charge and, on average, 45% of the electricity on our nation’s grid… Full Post >>

Clean Energy Worked on My House

Last fall, I wrote about how I had signed up for an energy retrofit of my house through Clean Energy Works Oregon. Clean Energy Works is a non-profit that allows utility customers to do home energy efficiency upgrades and pay for the upgrades through a charge on their utility bills. In that earlier post, I described the program and what made it attractive to me. Let me start with the advantages to the Clean Energy Works program:

The first is one-stop shopping. You… Full Post >>

CUB Applauds Coal Shut Down, Demands Better Analysis of Coal Investment

A couple of years ago, PGE was planning to invest $500 million in its Boardman coal plant. CUB challenged PGE to consider phasing the plant out instead of making the planned investments, and requested that PGE complete an analysis of a phase-out. PGE did the analysis and concluded that customers could save $200 million with a phase-out of the Boardman coal plant. (See Boardman Closure Update from last year.) 

Since that time, CUB has been working to… Full Post >>

Tracking Your Way to Energy Savings

Many utilities across the country, including a few in Oregon, have finished installing new smart meters on customer homes and businesses within their respective service territories.  For those of you who may not know, smart meters allow for two-way communication between the meter and the utility through a secure network.  This means that if you’re a customer of a utility that’s utilizing smart meters, your meter is read every few minutes rather than once a month (or longer) as with the previous analog meters.

… Full Post >>

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