As we enter month four of the COVID-19 crisis, we want to share a few important updates with you, our customer-owners.
In response to the risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic, we incorporated new measures to protect the health and safety of our employees and the public:
EWEB has remained open throughout the pandemic under modified conditions. Our staff have continued to perform vital work such as responding to emergency outages, operating the 24x7 water filtration plant, and supporting an unprecedented volume of billing and payment assistance requests.
In the last few months, we've assisted more than 4,000 customers with bill credits through our Customer Care program. Thousands more have enrolled in flexible payment arrangements or deferred loan payments.
Financial recovery will be a slow process and a community-wide effort. As an essential service provider, we know that electricity and water are foundational to all other areas of the economy, healthcare, and public safety. We also recognize that this is a challenging time for many local residents and businesses, and some may be struggling to keep up with utility payments.
As your community-owned utility, we will take the necessary steps to emerge from this crisis with the dual goal of protecting vulnerable customers while keeping the utility financially and operationally resilient. This means closely monitoring the temporary moratorium on service disconnections, and taking steps to help residential and business customers maintain or re-establish good account standing. We are actively working on programs to do just that, and look forward to sharing those in the very near future.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed almost everything for our community, except the need for reliable power and water at affordable rates. Looking ahead, every decision we make will continue to reflect our core values as your community-owned utility:
EWEB makes funds available to help customers who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and others with limited incomes. But the need is much greater than we are able to meet. If you have been thinking about ways you can help our community during the COVID-19 pandemic, a donation to Energy Share will help keep the lights on for families in need. Make a one-time donation or pledge a recurring amount at eweb.org/energyshare.
4200 Roosevelt Blvd.
Eugene, OR 97402
800-841-5871
541-685-7000
Open Monday-Friday
Phone hours: 9 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
