CUB Policy Center History
The CUB Policy Center was established in 1986 as the CUB Educational Fund (CEF), a 501(c)3 corporation in concert with its sister organization, the Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon, a 501(c)4 organization founded by Oregon voters to serve as the official representative of residential utility ratepayers. The CUB Educational Fund was originally developed to support the education of Oregon consumers, and in its first twenty years, the CEF provided educational and coalition-building activities that included an internship program which provided opportunities for young professionals to engage in the public interest and energy issues.
CEF ran several successful educational efforts, including informing ratepayers about their green energy options, conducting studies on utility consumer issues and providing administrative support for the Fair and Clean Energy Coalition (FCEC), a statewide collaboration of public interest organizations focused on progressive energy policy and strategically organize the public around a policy issue – specifically deregulation proposed by Enron in 1998. The FCEC was instrumental in creating the Energy Trust of Oregon, which has succeeded in increasing Oregon’s energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.
In 2007, the CEF’s Board of Directors recognized that while the organization wanted to continue to pursue consumer education efforts, CEF's strengths had shifted to development of long-term policy around those issues. CUB’s regulatory and legislative expertise and experiences provided a foundation for developing support, discussions and resolutions for long-term policy approaches. Its recent successes showed how the organization could integrate the CEF's past work into a more expansive program to include policy research and development. To recognize that shift, the board changed the name of the entity to the CUB Policy Center.
In 2008, the CPC assisted the Healthy Climate Partnership, a coalition of over 100 public interest groups and businesses from across Oregon, in developing their 2009 legislative goals.
In 2009, CUB worked to develop funding for a telecommunications consumer information center from a settlement with Qwest before the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC). Through CUB’s efforts, funding was set aside for a program that would provide information about telecommunications services in Oregon. A full year after the settlement, the CPC created CUB Connects. The inception of CUB Connects in June 2010 and the launch of www.cubconnects.org in 2011 marked a major step towards fulfilling the mission adopted by the board in 2007 and created the platform to expand the CPC’s programs.
In 2011, the organization launched several new projects that furthered that same mission, including an expanded CUB Fellowship program that engaged students and volunteers in the work and research we do; an Electric Vehicles program designed to educate and inform consumers, in partnership with the Confluence Environmental Center and AmeriCorps; and a Climate Research program which investigates smart and economically sound ways to close coal plants before the end of their expected lifespan and replace decommissioned coal plants with renewable energy resources.
As the CUB Policy Center looks to the future, we see many opportunities for the advancement of the public interest in the areas of energy, climate change, and environmental issues. Developing clean, sustainable policy is a key aspect the work the CUB Policy Center does and will do.
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