Join the Resistance! Fight the Utility Zombie Apocalypse!

Ok. So maybe I exaggerate. The utilities that serve us are not exactly person-eating zombies, but they do often ask for terrifying rate hikes and try to make hideously foolish decisions that put customers at risk.

Take for example, PGE’s recent IRP. As originally filed, it looked like PGE’s goal was to replace Boardman with two new gas fired plants on top of the recently built gas plant at Carty that is scheduled to serve customers through 2060 (insert primal scream here). CUB argued that the challenges of climate change will continue to require utilities to reduce carbon emissions, which makes more gas plants a big risk for residential customers. Instead, we suggested, PGE should seek shorter term (and therefore more flexible) contracts for available hydro power. After much testimony, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) agreed and did not acknowledge PGE’s plan. PGE has now agreed to negotiate these short-term contracts.

Then there is Avista, who has asked for significant rate increases twice in the last two years. Each time CUB stepped in and resisted those requests with stellar economic analysis and smart legal arguments.  And we successfully reduced those rate increases by half (2016) and two-thirds (2017).

And these are just two examples of how, with your support, CUB resists and conquers the zombies, umm… I mean utilities. But we can’t do it without our members. In fact, your membership/donation provisions this resistance. For example:

• $25 fuels a trip to Salem to testify before the Public Utility Commission.
• $100 provides us with six and a half reams of paper to print all the back-up documents we are required to keep.
• $200 arms us with half a month of internet service so we have the online capabilities to file legal briefs and written testimony.

You know it really WOULD be scary out there if CUB was not in the middle of the fray, keeping the Zombies - darn - I mean Utilities, at bay. So please, help CUB kick off our month-long #GivingTuesday Campaign by joining the resistance now! Your donation will get you a membership in the best Utility Zombie Apocalypse fighting outfit in the state. And if you join today we will throw in a bonus: great peace of mind, because your gift helps keep utilities in Oregon affordable, accessible, reliable, and clean.

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