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EWEB: Where history and the future meet

Focus on the future.

That’s been a hallmark of the Eugene Water & Electric Board during its 95-year history. It was true during the first meeting of the Eugene Water Board in a downtown storefront in 1911, when civic leaders talked about how to utilize surplus electricity from the newly completed Walterville Power Plant to run the city’s street lights.

Several important initiatives are under way that will ensure EWEB remains a well run and efficient public utility with reliable electricity, excellent water and innovative services that provide value for each dollar spent by the utility’s 85,000 customer-owners.

“The next few years will be a critical time for EWEB,” says General Manager Randy Berggren. “EWEB has a long history of serving the public good, and the initiatives we are undertaking now will serve our customers for the next 100 years with the same ethic of public ownership, accountability, service, innovation and responsiveness.”

Most notable on this list of initiatives is relocation of EWEB’s field operations to a new site in west Eugene. The utility’s administrative staff will remain in the current headquarters building along the Willamette River. But as early as next year, EWEB will begin construction of a new water and electric operations building, vehicle shops and other facilities to serve the engineers and field crews who keep the lights on and water coming out of the tap.

This special section is intended to give an overview of these major initiatives, along with a strong dose of EWEB’s rich history for perspective.

Some of the other initiatives and programs highlighted in this section are:

• On the heels of a new operating license for EWEB's two oldest power plants, Leaburg and Walterville, the utility will submit a license renewal application in November for its largest source of electricity, the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project. Relicensing Carmen-Smith in 2008 will ensure that EWEB customers continue to enjoy a reliable source of lower-cost electricity.
• EWEB continues to acquire wind power and other sources of clean, renewable energy. In 1999, EWEB became the first public utility in Oregon to build a wind farm and offer an innovative “windpower” option for customers. The utility has signed contracts to purchase additional windpower, is investing in new “fish-friendly” hydropower and soon may add geothermal power to its "portfolio" of energy sources.
• Thirty years ago, EWEB's leadership launched an era of energy conservation in the Pacific Northwest. Today, 5 percent of electric revenues are invested back into the community to help customers reduce consumption through conservation and energy efficiencies. Customers now save more than 50 megawatts of electricity – and tens of millions of dollars on their combined electric bills – each and every year.
• Customers are benefiting from a stepped-up investment in making the electric and water systems more reliable. This includes an additional $7 million a year to improve aging poles, wires and other electric facilities, as well as planned increases in capital spending to rebuild aging water lines and reservoirs, and improve the water intake on the McKenzie River.
• EWEB is building on the strength of its work force in a number of ways. With nearly half of the utility's current employees eligible to retire within the next five years, EWEB is devoting resources to train the next generation of leaders.
• Ninety-five years ago, the citizens of Eugene created their own municipal utility to ensure the safety and health of the water supply. Since then, water quality has been a top priority for EWEB. In recent years, EWEB has increased its efforts to protect our water supply, the McKenzie River.

By the time EWEB's 100th anniversary rolls around in 2011, many of these initiatives will be completed or well under way. Recognizing that there's a need to keep planning – and acting – for the future is what has given EWEB a reputation as a utility that gets things done with a high degree of efficiency. Or, as Norman Stone said in his 1986 book “Bountiful McKenzie:”

“Over many years EWEB has tended to function in a light-cavalry mode. It has avoided the pitfall of becoming a sluggish bureaucracy. It has moved quickly and decisively when required to do so in the interests of its customers. And it seems to have understood the dynamics of change.”