
Electric Outage: 1-844-484-2300
Water Emergency: 541-685-7595
EWEB Main: 541-685-7000
As a public utility, it is important EWEB check in with customers to see how we are performing. We invite you to share your feedback and opinions.
Find Out MoreOn April 12, EWEB dispatched a two-person crew with a bucket truck to assist with repairs and restoring electric service for Columbia River Public Utility District, which serves customers in Columbia County, north of Portland.
Find Out MoreEWEB is moving forward with analyzing four options to remediate the Leaburg Canal, ranging from full decommissioning to complete restoration, with two options in between.
Find Out MoreAs a public utility, owned by the people of Eugene, it’s important for us to be open and transparent with our customer-owners. The following State of the Utility Address, delivered by General Manager Frank Lawson at the March 1 EWEB Board meeting, highlights key events, accomplishments and challenges of 2021.
Find Out MoreStarting late night Sunday night, an intense windstorm blew over trees and caused just over 2,600 Eugene Water & Electric Board customers to lose power. But EWEB line crews working through the dark hours of the night and early morning promptly restored service for nearly all those customers.
Find Out MoreTwo Eugene Water & Electric Board line crews will spend the New Year holiday weekend through next week restoring power to thousands of Pacific Gas & Electric customers in northeast California after winter storms dumped more than 10 feet of snow in the Lake Tahoe area starting before Christmas.
Find Out MoreSeveral hundred customers have been restored, but the smaller outages with five or fewer customers may not be restored until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Find Out MoreWith the National Weather Service predicting snow for the Eugene area Sunday through Tuesday, we want to remind customers that the expected snow could bring trees and branches down onto overhead power lines and cause electric outages.
Find Out MoreHere in Eugene, where we are fortunate to have one of the cleanest power portfolios in the nation, electrification presents opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support climate recovery goals.
Find Out MoreEWEB is offering new programs to help Eugene electrify its transporation sector - tackling our largest source of carbon emissions
Find Out MoreAs part of our routine monitoring efforts, EWEB conducted a bathymetric survey of Trail Bridge Reservoir in May 2021 and found unusual depressions. EWEB conducted follow-up inspections with a remotely operated underwater vehicle along with dye testing by divers in early June 2021. Based on the dye tests, the two larger depressions are actively taking water and are considered sinkholes. Subsequent dye testing and geophysical investigations in July and August indicated that there is no concentrated seepage flow through or under Trail Bridge Dam.
Find Out MoreEWEB Leads "Spill Drill" to test HazMat Response
Find Out MoreHave you ever thought about where your drinking water comes from? What about where your wastewater goes?
Find Out MoreUnlike for-profit utilities who serve their investors, EWEB and other public power providers are community-owned and do not operate to earn a profit or benefit stockholders. Our prices are based on the costs to serve our community with safe, reliable water and electricity.
Find Out MoreWhile most wildfires are started by lightning strikes or caused by human actions, utilities have a role to play in risk reduction -- and we are doing our part. And while we can’t stop wildfires, we can make our electric infrastructure more resilient to better withstand fires by using new construction methods and materials and keeping our system maintenance up to date by replacing aging equipment.
Find Out MoreJust as high winds with gusts of more than 30 mph arrived in the Oregon Cascades early Thursday, EWEB has completed aerial trimming around its Carmen-Smith transmission line using a helicopter with saw attachments to trim branches and treetops.
The trimming protects power lines from trees and branches during wind and snow storms, increases reliability and mitigates the potential for wildfires during the summer months.
The Carmen-Smith transmission line is a vital connection to EWEB's electric distribution system and the Bonneville Power Administration's transmission system. The line allows generation from the Carmen project to get onto EWEB's system and serve customers in Eugene and the McKenzie River Valley, or onto BPA's transmission network to be marketed to electric utilities across the West.
Carmen-Smith, about 70 miles east of Eugene on the upper McKenzie River, is EWEB's largest utility-owned generation source and can power more than 16,000 homes.
By using a helicopter, EWEB was able to limit ground disturbances in the 17-mile-long transmission corridor, which runs through the Willamette National Forest. Aerial trimming provides easier access to trees in remote, mountainous terrain that is difficult for tree crews and their equipment to traverse.
The aerial trimming is quicker, more efficient and less expensive than using ground crews.
EWEB estimates it would take three tree crews 2.5 years and cost eight times more to trim along its Carmen-Smith line using ground crews due to seasonal wildlife species protection limitations, fire season work restrictions and the inaccessibility of the terrain, said EWEB utility Forester Nate Alexander.
"And tying up three crews for that long would take them away from other important work in town the in the McKenzie Valley," Nate said. He added that not only was the company the low bidder, but it also had the best safety record, "so it worked out really well for us."
Wright Tree Service, EWEB's vegetation management contractor, trims about 300 "line" miles each year, in addition to another 250 "line" miles in areas at greater risk for wildfire.
Heli-Dunn, based in Medford, was the low-bidder on the contract and won the $125,000 job. The company uses two primary tools: A vertical shaft with eight, 30-inch-diameter saw blades attached to it to trim horizontal branches, and a tree-topper that uses two hydraulic grappling claws to hold the tree while a chainsaw blade does the cutting.
"The topper is great for handling fire-damaged trees," Alexander said. "It can cut up to at least 24-inch (diameter) treetops."
By using a helicopter, EWEB was able to complete the work in about seven days. Heli-Dunn worked mostly afternoons in late October to avoid morning fog, Alexander said. The company completed the job - trimming about 12.5 miles of the 17-mile transmission line - on Oct. 25.
EWEB is likely to employ the less expensive and faster aerial trimming in other areas of its service territory in the future. And with climate change bringing hotter, drier summers and longer and more intense wildfire seasons that limit when ground crews can prune, aerial trimming will become more popular.
4200 Roosevelt Blvd.
Eugene, OR 97402
800-841-5871
541-685-7000
Open Monday-Friday
Phone hours: 9 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.