Related News
Related News
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Spring Cleaning? How about Spring Emergency Preparedness!
Spring is officially here and that means the plants are blooming, the sun is (sometimes) shining, and the grass is green! We've had our fair share of severe weather already, but spring weather is notoriously unpredictable. While you're in the midst of spring cleaning and garden care, consider completing these emergency preparedness tasks.
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EWEB General Manager Delivers 2024 State of the Utility
General Manager Frank Lawson delivered his address at the March 5 public Board of Commissioners meeting
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Nine days without power: My ice storm story as an EWEB customer and employee
While beautiful and peaceful, buying a home on the edge of the forest and surrounded by trees has its tradeoffs. Moving “upriver,” I knew there would be more threats to prepare for, including Mother Nature’s seasonal surprises.
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EWEB achieves power restoration milestone over the weekend
Crews have so far restored power for 92% of customers who originally lost power at the height of the ice storm.
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Reenergized McKenzie River Valley transmission lines allow EWEB crews to restore power upriver
On Friday, a majority of EWEB crews tackled power restoration efforts upriver, after federally managed transmission lines were reenergized Thursday.
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EWEB estimates one week to complete power system restoration
On Wednesday, EWEB crews restored power for about 10,000 customers by repairing large equipment first.
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Second round of ice and ensuing thaw prompt mass power outages
On Wednesday, all EWEB crews, who have been working nonstop since Saturday, traversed EWEB’s service territory assessing the damage and restoring transmission lines and main power feeders.
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Power restored at EWEB’s water treatment plant
Crews restored electric power at EWEB's Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant Monday evening, allowing operators to switch off the generators and rely again on the grid. Meanwhile, EWEB crews brace for additional outages amidst second round of ice and during the coming thaw.
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EWEB crews making downed lines safe and restoring power across Eugene and the foothills
As EWEB works to restore electric service to customers affected by the ice storm, the customer-owned utility is following established policies and its “hierarchy of repair” to prioritize repairs that restore electric service to the greatest number of customers.
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Leaburg Decommissioning Action Plan
Plan details next steps through regulatory processes to begin dismantling Leaburg Dam by 2032.
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What’s ahead in 2024: General manager’s message to EWEB customer-owners
At the start of the new year, we back at accomplishments from 2023 and look ahead at what's to come in 2024.
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Currin Substation: End of year update
EWEB Engineer Philip Peterson explains what's been happening in the final stretch to complete the substation rebuild.
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EWEB 2023 year in review
In 2023, EWEB invested in our community with grants, rebates and an array of other programs and measures aimed at fulfilling our core values of safety, reliability, affordability, environmental responsibility and community/culture.
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EWEB Recognized with Excellence in Communications Awards from American Public Power Association
We are proud to have been recognized with two Excellence in Public Power Communications Awards for 2023 from the American Public Power Association (APPA).
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Let's talk turkey. If a disaster strikes, is your family ready?
Many of us avoid discussing politics over the dinner table in the spirit of family peace and harmony. But here's a topic that can bring everyone together: emergency preparedness.
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Powered by People Like Brian
January 17, 2020
To talk about Brian, you have to employ superlatives. He is the friendliest, the nicest and the humblest of people. Walking through the halls of EWEB with him is like a flashback to high school. We all remember that kid that everyone knew and everyone liked-somehow knowing everyone's name and greeting each person he passes. At EWEB, that's Brian.
As a teenager, Brian would spend summers with his uncle in Hermiston.
"He was a lineman with Umatilla Electric Co-Op and I got to go on ride-alongs. It piqued my interest," recalls Brian.
After attending a year of college, Brian told his parents he wanted to leave and go to line school in Idaho.
"They had an early-out program. PG&E called and listed off locations in California I didn't know anything about. When they mentioned Oakland, I thought, that sounds good. Everyone made fun of me for it since I passed up all these fancy northern California cities, but it turned out great," says Brian.
Brian started with PG&E as a truck driver and quickly moved into a position as an apprentice lineman. In 1999, he was hired on with EWEB as an apprentice. After a few years, he moved to Bend taking a position with Central Electric Co-Op, but eventually found his way back home to Eugene and EWEB.
Since then, Brian has put in the hours and the effort advancing to Crew Leader II with EWEB's apparatus crews that work primarily on EWEB's downtown network.
The configuration of the downtown electric network results in ultra-high service reliability, which takes specialized equipment. The crews Brian leads perform the maintenance and technical work on that equipment.
"When I first started with the apparatus crew, it was completely new to me and challenging. The downtown network serves some really big customers, who rely on a high level of service. In the beginning there was a lot of maintenance work that hadn't been done in a while. We'd open vaults up and not know what we were going to be getting into," says Brian.
Brian is a glass half full kind of guy. It's easy to get the impression that he sees opportunity where others see obstacles and with his goofy, playful demeanor his enthusiasm for the work is infectious.
"It's been a pretty incredible opportunity to work in the power industry," says Brian. "You want to come see some of the equipment we work on?" And he grins.
Thank you Brian for your role in providing customers with vital services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.