CUB Connects at NARUC Summer Committee Meetings 2011
Posted on July 21, 2011 by Andrea Crosby
Tags, Telecommunications and CUB Connects, Utility Regulation
Andrea Crosby here, reporting on my recent sojourn to sunny Los Angeles. This past Sunday, I headed down to California to present at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Summer Committee Meetings. This was a great opportunity to represent CUB at the national level and talk to influential regulatory staff members from all over the country. NARUC’s mission is to improve the quality and effectiveness of public utility regulation and the summer committee meetings aim to educate NARUC members, discuss current issues and provide joint resolutions that represent the overall organization.
I was invited to speak to the Staff Subcommittee on Consumers Affairs in a joint session with the Staff Subcommittee on Telecommunications for a full one-hour time slot. My presentation was titled “CUB Connects: Oregon’s Effort to Educate Consumers in an Unregulated Marketplace”. CUB Connects is the first project of its kind in the country which makes us leaders in consumer education for telecommunications services.
My main goals were to provide the regulatory context as to how CUB Connects came to be as well as clearly explain the importance of CUB Connects for Oregonian consumers, the development of CUB Connects and our goals for the project moving forward. CUB Connects is a great example of how regulatory commissions can encourage consumer education projects as the telecommunications industry becomes increasingly deregulated. Some Cubbies still recall when the only decision to make when signing up for phone service was whether you wanted the phone on the wall or on the desk. Those days are long gone. With the deregulation of the telecommunications industry and the proliferation of wireless and digital services, consumers now face a competitive and often confusing marketplace full of options. This modern dilemma calls for modern solutions.
CUB Connects’ searchable database is just the beginning of this solution for Oregonians. Moving forward we are looking to promote a series of educational workshops throughout the state that deal with the issues that consumers face in the telecommunications marketplace. In addition to helping participants understand and possibly reduce their phone and internet bills, the CUB Connects team will be offering workshops on internet safety, preventing and identifying scams, tips to purchasing phone and internet plans and more.
Overall, the NARUC audience seemed very interested in the project and asked some great questions about the development of the project and the framework agreement under which we developed the project. It was really rewarding to present to people that are engaged in this type of work throughout the country and show them how we have successfully developed a consumer education project here in Oregon.
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03/24/17 | 0 Comments | CUB Connects at NARUC Summer Committee Meetings 2011