Our 40th Anniversary Edition and 2018 Annual Report is out and we’re pleased to share it with you.

We combined a retrospective about our 40 years of advocacy as the nation’s first Citizens Utility Board with our report on significant cases and work in 2018.

CUB held its Milwaukee 40th Anniversary event on April 20, with 120 supporters in attendance filling Lakefront Brewery (a CUB small business member). Mayor Tom Barrett issued a proclamation and former Wisconsin Assembly Majority Leader Jim Wahner shared stories of his efforts to help create CUB in the 1970s.

While we are pleased to celebrate 40 years as Your Independent Consumer Voice, the work goes on. CUB was able to help save ratepayers $84 million in 2018 through refunds on tax savings, reaching settlements with Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin Power & Light utility and Madison Gas & Electric on their rate cases. We also participated in municipal electric rate cases on behalf of small business and residential customers in Menasha, Shawano and Kaukauna.

Where will CUB be at 50? We don’t have all the answers, of course, but we know this is a time of profound change. Be sure to read about the dramatic shifts predicted in the electric industry as costs fall for renewable energy and energy storage. Customers will have technological advances in energy efficiency, big data, and increased analytics at their fingertips to control energy costs. Through it all, CUB will be there as the voice of the people, keeping the process fair and stopping the utilities from earning excessive profits.

Find out more about what CUB’s been up to by checking out the annual report. You can scroll through it, or download it on the “Annual Reports and Newsletters” page of cubwi.org. And be sure to send feedback about the report to me at content@cubwi.org.