CUB’s 2011 Accomplishments

Here at CUB, our small staff works tirelessly in the fight to keep utility rates fair and affordable for customers, while also ensuring that utility practices remain in line with our values as Oregonians. 2011 was another great year for CUB, full of many victories and accomplishments for Oregon ratepayers.

Here are a handful of our accomplishments from last year, broken down by the type of utility:

Electricity

• CUB helped negotiate an agreement designed to end 30 years of litigation over the allocation of federal hydro power benefits among Northwest utilities. This agreement ends a fight that goes back to 1980, and allows the region to focus on our more serious concerns with our hydro power: protecting endangered salmon, integrating wind generation, and adapting to changes in snowpack due to climate change.
• CUB supported the broad coalition to enact the Cool Schools proposal, which brought into focus the need to make our education infrastructure more energy efficient.
• PacifiCorp sought a $61.6 million increase in its power costs, which would have caused a 5.6% rate increase to customers in its service territory. CUB fought hard during this proceeding to make sure that PacifiCorp customers’ issues were ad¬dressed. During the proceeding, PacifiCorp agreed to accept parts of the proposal made by CUB and other intervenors, which reduced PacifiCorp’s request by $7.9 million.
• CUB negotiated $13 million in savings for ratepayers in PacifiCorp’s annual income tax true-up docket.
• CUB’s greatest victory of 2010 was affirmed earlier in 2011, when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved PGE’s plan to close the Boardman coal plant before it’s expected lifetime. The early closure will save customers $200 million and allows the company to avoid significant future investments to maintain the plant.
• CUB took issue with PGE’s natural gas and electricity market hedging strategies, arguing that the company hedged too much gas too far in advance. As a result of CUB’s argument (which was made in conjunction with the Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities [ICNU]), the Commission reduced the amount PGE could charge customers for its net power costs by $2.6 million.
• The CUB Policy Center invited industry, law, and regulatory professionals to partake in its inaugural policy conference: Smart Grid Today’s Regulation and Tomorrow’s Technology. We were delighted at the response; the event, held in conjunction with the University of Oregon Law School, brought 150 energy professionals together to discuss the Smart Grid in Oregon.

Natural Gas

• CUB fought to reduce Avista’s rate increase by $3 million.
• CUB got NW Natural to withdraw its request that a $7.7 million surcharge be placed on customers’ bills to offset higher taxes the utility faced.
• CUB convinced NW Natural to withdraw a plan to defer nearly $4 million in pension costs that were to be charged to ratepayers. While CUB is aware that the company’s pension plan needs an overhaul, tagging ratepayers with a large portion of the bill was not an acceptable solution to the issue.

Telecom

• Our CUB Connects project was publicly launched, providing a search engine that helps consumers compare prices and telecommunications products. CUB worked to ensure that as a condition is attached to the CenturyLink/Qwest merger requiring an additional $45 million investment in broadband in Oregon. By year’s end, the CUB Connects website attracted over 10,000 visitors.
• CUB significantly increased its advocacy on behalf of low-income ratepayers by participating in over a dozen dockets related to the use of Universal Service Funds in Oregon. CUB is actively working to make sure that any company that gets certified to provide these services will provide adequate customer service and service packages that will be valuable to customers.
• The acquisition of Qwest by CenturyLink closed in early 2011, following a lengthy hearing process in which CUB advocated for a number of customer-protection measures. CUB was happy to get a commitment from CenturyLink to invest millions of dollars in improving its broadband network in the coming years, which should improve rural Oregonians’ access to the internet.

Even with all of these victories and accomplishments, our work is never done. Already in 2012, we see a number of threats for higher rates on the horizon, and we’ll continue to keep you up to date on the work CUB is doing to keep utility rates fair and affordable. Since 1984 we’ve saved Oregonians over $5.4 billion and counting. If you want to join us in the fight, we could use your help. Please consider becoming a member of CUB today, and signing up for our e-mail updates. (We also appreciate your “likes” on Facebook!)

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