2021 Members Meeting: a Report from CUB Board Chair Christy Anderson Brekken

As the Chair of CUB’s Board of Governors, I’m proud to bring you this report on our Annual Members Meeting, held via Zoom on May 6, 2021. CUB members have been the backbone of our organization since our founding in 1984. Your feedback and support allow us to do all of the critical work that CUB accomplished for residential utility customers in 2020. We have deep appreciation and gratitude for our members’ support and engagement, including your phone calls to the office and insightful questions at the Annual Meeting!

While 2020 was the most challenging year in our collective experience, stepping up to chair CUB’s Board of Governors in 2020 was an easy choice for me. CUB Board Members come from a wide range of backgrounds in Oregon energy, telecom, environment, and consumer protection work. We oversee the organization’s finances, mission, and strategic direction. The board works in partnership with staff on our ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion taskforce to infuse equity into all of our decisions. CUB is an organization dedicated to constant improvement, both internally and on behalf of residential ratepayers. CUB members should be proud that the staff and board poured ourselves into our mission in 2020: advocating on behalf of residential utility customers, with special attention to the fact that utility issues also disproportionately impacted community members who were hardest hit by the pandemic and economic downturn.

Rob Brading, CUB’s Board Treasurer, reported that CUB is in good financial shape. In 2020, our expenses exceeded our income by $150,000 and we have a healthy reserve account. Our annual financial audit went smoothly and came out clean, as usual. While we were concerned that donations would drop at the beginning of the pandemic, our members increased contributions in 2020, demonstrating that CUB members understand our important work on behalf of everyday Oregonians. We also saw an increase in support from foundations, which reflects CUB’s unique role in national discussions as a consumer group focused on both affordability and the environment.

CUB’s new Membership Organizer, Charlotte Shuff, gave us an update on our legislative work and how members can get involved. CUB is advocating for four energy bills in the current Oregon legislative session: HB 2475 – Oregon Energy Affordability Act, HB 2021 – 100% Clean Electricity, HB 215 – Transportation Electrification Package, and HB 3141 – Increase Low-Income Weatherization Funding. CUB has been proud to work with environmental justice advocacy leaders on many of these bills, which are backed by the largest and most diverse coalition to have ever supported clean and equitable energy legislation.

Bob Jenks, CUB’s Executive Director, updated us on CUB’s regulatory work before the Public Utility Commission (PUC) in 2020. It was a big year because four of Oregon’s six regulated electric and gas companies requested general rate increases. Thanks to CUB’s analysis and advocacy in challenging rate increases, Oregon customers will save $327 million. Pacific Power wanted to raise rates by $78 million, including $12 million for its profit margin alone. CUB argued that Pacific Power shouldn’t be able to increase its profits while Oregonians were suffering from the pandemic and job losses. Furthermore, Pacific Power should not profit from investments that extended the life of a coal plant. Thanks to CUB’s work, Pacific Power’s rates will actually decrease by $20 million. We were also able to reduce NWN’s requested increase by $25.6 million, including more than $4 million for officer bonuses which was withdrawn after CUB’s objections.

CUB was also at the forefront of protecting customers from utility shut-offs during COVID, negotiating a temporary moratorium quickly after the Governor announced a moratorium on evictions. CUB then worked with environmental justice communities, local governments, and low-income service providers to extend the shut-off moratorium until April 1, suspending charges related to bill payments, and establishing a debt relief fund from each utility equal to 1 percent of its retail revenues ($39 million). This is among the strongest utility consumer protection responses to COVID in the country. The moratorium was later extended to the end of June, and we are working with stakeholders on extending it further and increasing customers’ debt relief funds.

The Labor Day fires weren’t just a warning about the climate crisis - they showed us the vulnerability of our communities. Jackson County lost the most homes, including many low-income households. Future wildfire risk may require public safety utility shut-offs to prevent fires, leading to other community vulnerabilities. Will cell towers work? What happens to critical services? What happens to folks who require electricity for medical equipment? Utilities also have to be proactive about reducing wildfire risk; for example, Pacific Power will not recover all wildfire prevention costs if the PUC safety staff finds that the company is not adequately implementing its vegetation management plans. CUB will be involved in designing rules for wildfire prevention and customer protection.

One of CUB’s major efforts came to fruition on October 15, 2020, when the Boardman coal plant closed for good. Boardman was the largest source of greenhouse gases, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and other air pollutants in the state. CUB began working on this issue in 2008 when PGE was planning to invest over $500 million on a retrofit that would have kept the plant running until 2040. CUB worked with DEQ, EPA, PUC, and PGE to instead close the plant in 2020, which became a framework for plant closure agreements rather than long-term pollution control investments that facilitated several more coal plant closures around the country.

CUB has also been at the forefront of telecom and broadband regulatory issues. As a statewide organization, the shift to virtual meetings is a great opportunity to connect with all of you at our Policy Conference and Annual Meeting. It also highlights the importance of expanding the broadband network into all corners of Oregon, which CUB advocated for in the June 2020 Special Session. The Rural Telecommunications Investment Act (RTIA) was passed, establishing a sustainable fund for a broadband (high-speed internet access service) infrastructure and community planning grants program for un- and under-served rural communities. Going forward, CUB will continue to advocate for equitable telecom and broadband policies.

From our founding via a statewide ballot initiative, CUB is built on the idea that collective action creates change. If it weren’t for the people power behind the ballot initiative back in 1984, we wouldn’t be here today. You can support CUB by becoming a member, becoming a monthly donor, signing up for our email list for action updates, and using our action alert tool to urge your state legislators to support CUB’s policy priorities. Our voices are more powerful together, and you’ve got CUB’s policy experts on your side all year long - in the legislative session, in the PUC, and visioning the clean and equitable energy transition that will keep Oregon’s utility services accessible, affordable, and equitable, while protecting our health and environment.

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