Celebrating Inaugural Consumer Champion Margie Harris
Posted on August 25, 2016 by Samuel Pastrick
Tags, Conference & Events
As part of this year’s October 14 Policy Conference, CUB is giving the first annual Consumer Champion Award. This award honors individuals who, through their industry leadership, policy innovations, and public service have contributed in a substantial way to the well-being of Oregon’s residential utility ratepayers.
And who better to honor in this inaugural year than Margie Harris, founding Executive Director of the Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO), who will be retiring at the end of 2016. Margie will be presented with the inaugural Consumer Champion Award by PUC Commissioner Steve Bloom in an afternoon ceremony beginning at 3:45 pm and she will then offer the conference ending keynote address. A reception will be held in her honor from 4:30-6:00pm following her speech.
Beginning with a bachelors in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan, Margie’s long and prestigious career has included helping to establish Portland-specific energy conservation policies and programs, crafting Oregon’s first energy conservation legislation, promoting renewable energy at a regional level, and as the ETO’s first full-time staff person and founding Executive Director, leading the organization to a place of national significance.
During Margie’s tenure at the ETO, Oregon has become an efficiency leader putting the state third in the nation for investment in energy efficiency, exceeded only by Massachusetts and California. Through the facilitation of energy efficiency and renewable power improvements the ETO has contributed $3.9 billion to the state’s economy, and has helped individual Oregonians save $5.6 billion on their energy bills. Additionally, 17.4 million tons of carbon dioxide have been kept out of the atmosphere, which is the equivalent of taking three million cars off the road for a year.*
“Though Margie may be retiring at the end of this year,” says CUB Executive Director, Bob Jenks, “the amount of money the ETO has saved customers under her leadership is immense and will continue to provide value for years to come.”
There is no question that Oregonians have benefited greatly from Margie’s vision, passion, and leadership in establishing significant policies and programs that have both protected and benefited energy consumers. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we honor Margie’s accomplishments and look forward to her closing address, Bringing our Clean Energy Future into Focus: Musings after Four Decades of Change Agent Work
www.cubpolicycenter.org/conference.
*See the ETO website timeline at http://energytrust.org/timeline.
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09/05/22 | 0 Comments | Celebrating Inaugural Consumer Champion Margie Harris