CUCA’s 2020 Accomplishments

At the beginning of 2020, no one could have predicted a pandemic that would cripple our economy and stop us all in our tracks. We will all be glad when 2020 comes to an end, but before we turn the calendar to 2021 and have a collective sigh of relief, I’d like to outline our accomplishments for my first year at the Carolina Utility Customers Association (CUCA). It has been quite a year indeed. I took the helm as the Executive Director back in January, only 11 short months ago. At that time, our office was on the edge of Raleigh, the website was out of date and needed revamping, and the phone system was old and needed replacing. By year’s end, our office will be in North Raleigh — easily accessible to the regulatory and legislative offices in downtown; a new website created and launched with content and branding; and our phone and internet systems updated for modern communication and connection. In addition to these operational changes, we have also made important staffing and consultant changes. We replaced our retiring attorney with the first-rate business law practice of Brooks, Pierce and attorneys Marcus Trathen and Craig Schauer. Early in the year, we hired Devin O’Neal, as my right-hand person as the CUCA business manager. We hired Diane Cherry Consulting to take care of our communications needs and launch our new website and our updated Linked In page. And, Baldwin Consulting Group has helped with natural gas and infrastructure issues. We are of course fortunate to continue with NOVA Energy Consultants and Kevin O’Donnell with his expertise on financial analysis around energy industrial rates. On the content front, we intervened in the Duke Energy rate cases, have had a seat at the table for industrial energy issues related to Executive Order 80, and led webinars and other policy convenings for North Carolina energy market reform. Operational tasks and staffing changes are never fun and occur behind the scenes, but with these tasks now behind us, we will use 2021 to concentrate more fully on the energy regulatory and legislative tasks at hand. We will be laser focused on our core mission – the protection of jobs and economic output of North Carolina’s industrial and manufacturing sectors by securing reliable energy services at the lowest possible cost. Best wishes for a wonderful and safe holiday season!