Workers at the Portland Water Bureau read over 176,000 residential meters every three months. Daily residential routes range from 250 to 725 meters depending on housing density and terrain. The average residential route has 500 water meters and workers typically... Read More »

CUB is working on two main bills focused on energy efficiency this session. HB 2946 was a bill targeted at making sure that large energy users paid their fair share for energy efficiency investments. Currently, the amount that industrial customers... Read More »

Aeration tank at Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant, photo from BES website

City of Portland budget development is rolling along this spring. CUB gave testimony at a mid-March meeting focused just on budgets for the two utility bureaus. Next, CUB gave... Read More »

Late last fall, I sat in on a public meeting in Southern Oregon for one of the major utilities providing natural gas service to the area. They had just proposed a second rate increase in less than a year– one to... Read More »

CUB and Pacific Power sat down recently and reached an agreement on the costs associated with the utility’s proposal to close the Deer Creek Mine. Earlier, CUB filed testimony which supported the closure of the mine, but opposed the method that... Read More »

If you’re a current or aspiring homeowner, you’ve probably wondered about the possibility of installing rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity and save on your electric bills. But did you know that there’s an older and equally cost-effective technology that... Read More »