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 focusing on restoring electric service for Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant
With more ice forecasted for Tuesday, all EWEB crews are in the field assessing outages and restoring power.
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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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Start the New Year saving money with energy saving tips
We know that saving money is important to our customers. Using energy and water wisely is a great way to reduce your monthly utility bill, even as the costs of electricity and water rise. EWEB has several steps you can take to reduce your usage and even make your home feel more comfortable.
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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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The 4Rs of EWEB’s COVID-19 Crisis Plan
June 16, 2020
As the situation around COVID-19 continues to evolve, we want to share details about how EWEB is responding and how we're ensuring that you continue to receive the water and electric services you depend on from us, safely, reliably and affordably.
Our long-term approach to the pandemic includes four parts, which we refer to as the 4Rs: Respond, Reintegrate, Recover, and Replenish.
1. Respond
Our first order of business was helping to contain the spread of the virus, ensuring we could continue critical services, and implementing short-term crisis programs for customers.
In mid-March, EWEB voluntarily issued a moratorium on service disconnections, allowing customers who are financially impacted by the pandemic to temporarily defer payments without worrying about losing electric services. We temporarily extended a $260 bill assistance credit to customers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, increased funding for our bill assistance program, and allowed customers to defer existing loans.
For the safety of our staff and customers, we closed EWEB offices and lobby to the public and adopted practices such as teleworking and scheduling employees to work staggered shifts.
2. Reintegrate
EWEB has remained open throughout the pandemic but under modified conditions. In mid-May, we began a gradual and responsible return to our facilities. Similar to the State of Oregon's approach, EWEB's workforce will reintegrate in three phases that may take months. The first phase focused on returning electric and water field crews to full strength. Over time, we will reintegrate office staff who have been telecommuting, and the final phase will be a mix of a facility-based and remote-based workforce.
3. Recover
Economic recovery will be a slow process and a community-wide effort. EWEB is approaching this phase with three primary goals:
- Supporting our community in crisis
- Being responsible stewards of our customers' financial resources
- Keeping the utility operationally and financially resilient
As an essential service provider, we must maintain the strong financial foundation needed to provide clean, safe and reliable power and water—the backbone that supports all other areas of the economy, healthcare, and public safety—while continuing to assist vulnerable customers who are struggling to pay their bills.
During the recovery process, assistance will shift from disconnection suspensions and late fee waivers to measures that help customers bring their accounts up-to-date over time.
4. Replenish
Pandemic-related economic consequences will likely be severe, and we will need to assess and adjust over the long-term to replenish economic shortfalls and continue to serve our customer-owners.
Fortunately, EWEB entered this crisis in a financially resilient position, after several years of efforts to become more efficient, lower operating costs, and reduce debt. Residential electric prices have held steady for five out of the last six years, and water prices have not gone up since 2016.
This will make it easier to rebuild the utility's financial resiliency, but depending on the severity and duration of this crisis, replenishment could take months or years.
Looking ahead, every decision we make will continue to reflect our core values as your community-owned utility:
- Safety of our workforce and the public
- Reliability of drinking water and electricity
- Responsibility for financial and natural resources
- Community support and service