Troutdale Library Workshop with CUB Connects

The CUB Connects crew headed to Troutdale this past Friday to offer our first educational workshop on Understanding Your Phone and Internet Bill. It was a small event, and the attendees were very grateful for the information we shared. The experience gave us a lot of motivation to continue offering workshops in the community.

The schedule of our upcoming workshops is available here . All of the workshops are free to the public and are conducted in partnership with the Multnomah County… Full Post >>

January Fix It Fair Great Fun!

On Saturday, January 21st, Emmaline and I headed to Rosa Parks Elementary in North Portland for our second community Fix-it Fair.  The City of Portland hosts these fairs to connect Portland residents to information and resources that can help them save money and be healthy at home.  The fairs are free and open to the public.

We spoke to over 60 people about the CUB Connects project and ways they can better understand and select phone and internet service options in their… Full Post >>

CUB’s 2011 Accomplishments

Here at CUB, our small staff works tirelessly in the fight to keep utility rates fair and affordable for customers, while also ensuring that utility practices remain in line with our values as Oregonians. 2011 was another great year for CUB, full of many victories and accomplishments for Oregon ratepayers.

Here are a handful of our accomplishments from last year, broken down by the type of utility:

Electricity

• CUB helped negotiate an agreement designed to end 30 years of litigation… Full Post >>

USF Reform: Big Boost for Broadband

Back in October, we wrote about the Universal Service Fund, and the fact that it was slated for a potentially dramatic overhaul. These changes were designed to focus more on broadband internet service and less on traditional landline telephone service. Since then, the FCC did in fact release its proposed changes (PDF) and, as expected, they are designed to provide support for ensuring universal access to broadband services. The order, over 750 pages long, takes some reading and it will be a while before… Full Post >>

Thankful for Fix-it Fairs

Over the weekend, CUB attended the 25th Annual Fix-It Fair at Ron Russell Middle School in SE Portland to let people know about CUB Connects. The City of Portland holds these fairs throughout the city in order to connect residents to information and community resources that can help them save money and be healthy at home.  The fairs are free and open to the public.

Fix-it Fairs invite organizations to host a table and/or workshop that give attendees answers about:

— Water… Full Post >>

Oregon Connections Conference

In the last week of October, CUB staff headed up the Gorge to attend the 16th annual Oregon Connections Conference in Hood River. The conference focus was “Oregon Broadband: The Power of Adoption.”  This day and a half long event was filled with enlightening discussion and helpful insight into the future of broadband in Oregon, the policies that may affect broadband both nationally and statewide, and the opportunities and barriers for moving forward with broadband deployment and adoption.

CUB Executive Director, Bob Jenks, participated in… Full Post >>

Everything Old is New Again

On October 27 and 28, Hood River will be visited by a host of telecommunications industry and policy experts. The occasion is the Oregon Connections Telecommunications Conference, an annual gathering “to share ideas, experiences and knowledge about telecommunications.” This year’s theme seeks to “explore the importance and value of broadband telecommunications adoption and utilization for business, government, education, healthcare, public safety, communities and individuals.”

CUB executive director Bob Jenks will be on a panel discussing broadband (high-speed Internet connections) and the Oregon Universal Service… Full Post >>

Lessons Learned from Illinois CUB

Last week I headed to Chicago to spend time with the energetic staff at Illinois CUB. Yes, you read that correctly: just like Oregon, Illinois has a CUB that represents residential customers in ratemaking proceedings before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), in the courts, and before other public bodies and provides consumers with information and assistance regarding their utility companies.

As the Project Manager for CUB Connects, I am developing an outreach program to get information on selecting communication services, reducing high phone bills… Full Post >>

CUB Connects at NARUC Summer Committee Meetings 2011

Andrea Crosby here, reporting on my recent sojourn to sunny Los Angeles. This past Sunday, I headed down to California to present at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Summer Committee Meetings. This was a great opportunity to represent CUB at the national level and talk to influential regulatory staff members from all over the country. NARUC’s mission is to improve the quality and effectiveness of public utility regulation and the summer committee meetings aim to educate NARUC members, discuss current… Full Post >>

CUB Connects Presents at the Capitol

On February 7, 2011 the CUB Connects team headed to Salem to present the project to our representatives at the Oregon State Capitol.  The presentation, held in Hearing Room 350 of the Capitol Building, was the first of many events that we are planning for 2011 to celebrate the launch of CUB Connects.  Jeff Bissonnette opened the event with a brief introduction to CUB and the history of CUB Connects.  Andrea Crosby, our Project Manager, explained the methodology and philosophy behind the site and… Full Post >>

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