2021 Recap: Keeping Your Utilities Affordable, Accessible, Reliable, and Clean

As a reader of CUB’s Blog, you know that we keep up a steady stream throughout the year of news like this on all kinds of advocacy fronts. Recaps like the one below can read like we’re wrapping the year in a beautiful bow and putting it behind us. But the truth is that the fight for utility customer interests is ongoing – and your support makes this fight possible.

We are asking you, our reader, to donate today to support CUB’s work. With the legislative session coming up in February, we need your help now. Your donation allows us to advocate for policies and regulations that protect your wallet and the environment. Whether you’re giving $5, $50, or $500, you are crucial to the fight for utilities that work for all Oregonians in 2022.

2021 was a deeply rewarding year for CUB. Amidst record-shattering summer heat waves, the continuing COVID-19 crisis, and an uneven economic recovery, CUB won an historic raft of major legislative victories for customers. We helped secure several important protections for those most vulnerable to wildfires and utility shutoffs. And we worked to infuse more and more of our work with the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

At the core though, CUB’s work this year was focused on keeping your utility services affordable, accessible, reliable, and clean.

Affordable

In 2021, CUB’s efforts saved Oregon utility customers more than $153,000,000. This brought the total savings we’ve won for customers since our founding in 1984 to over $9 billion. Major wins included savings for customers of Pacific Power, Portland General Electric, and Idaho Power in the annual process of forecasting those companies’ future costs.

CUB helped pass the Energy Affordability Act (HB 2475) which allows regulators to consider income and equity factors in setting utility rates. CUB staff will participate in the bill’s implementation to ensure vulnerable customers get needed access to affordable rates.

CUB helped establish and then extend the pause on utility shutoffs during the pandemic. We also helped secure $45 million in relief funds for customers who needed help paying their bills after the pause ended.

Accessible

This year, more community groups joined the fight for fair utility service in Oregon. CUB lent our experience and knowledge to help community organizations make an impact. We helped these groups understand and participate in the regulatory process.

CUB worked in coalitions to equitably expand electric vehicle markets. We joined community groups to determine a just future for natural gas. And CUB worked to reduce climate pollution by advising on the Department of Environmental Quality’s new Clean Fuels Program. We look forward helping more community groups find a seat at the table and a voice in utility regulation for the communities they represent.

Reliable

As Oregon’s long utility shut-off pause came to a close in summer 2021, CUB won important protections for customers with medical needs that rely on uninterrupted energy service, as well as those most vulnerable to wildfires.

CUB helped increase bill assistance funding for low-income customers of Pacific Power and PGE through the passage of HB 2739. This law will raise an additional $20 million for the Oregon Energy Assistance Program over the next two years.

CUB advised this year on the NW Power Pool’s new Resource Adequacy program, which will ensure there is enough energy for customers across the Pacific Northwest region during periods of high demand. And we spotlighted energy reliability in the theme and panel discussion topics at our 11th annual energy policy conference in October.

Clean

CUB’s biggest legislative victory in 2021, aptly labeled HB 2021, requires Oregon’s biggest energy utilities to move to 100% clean electricity by 2040. In supporting this bill, CUB joined the largest and most diverse coalition to ever support a piece of clean energy legislation in the state.

CUB’s advocacy also helped move Idaho Power and PGE to agree to exit dates within the next four years for coal plants they each have ownership stakes in. These agreements will save the utilities’ customers the expense of future coal contracts, labor costs, and the economic risk inherent in coal power.

CUB staff also pushed this year to make electric transportation more accessible for Oregonians. We worked with regulators and other parties throughout the fall to look at changing how utilities plan for electric vehicles. CUB focused on centering community needs, particularly those of renters, households in multi-family housing, and small businesses.

Visit our Accomplishments page to learn more about CUB’s major 2021 victories for Oregon utility customers. And stay tuned to the CUB Blog for a coming preview of our advocacy priorities in 2022!

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