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A wrap up of the May 2nd EWEB Board of Commissioners Meeting
Find Out MoreFollow along as the Currin Substation, the first of 10 substations in 10 years, is rebuilt from the ground up as part of EWEB's Capital Improvement Plan for major infrastructure investments to rehabilitate, replace, and install new infrastructure.
Find Out MoreThe EWEB Board of Commissioners discussed prefunding Leaburg, the 2022 State of the Watershed report, and the General Manager's performance evaluation at their April 4th, 2023 meeting.
Find Out MoreCrews are identifying and addressing equipment failures before wildfire season and doing so mitigates risk of fire ignition.
Find Out MoreThe EWEB Board of Commissioners meet on the first Tuesday of the month.
Find Out MoreEWEB General Manager Frank Lawson delivered his annual State of the Utility Address at the March 7 public Board of Commissioners meeting.
Find Out MoreCollaborating with the City of Eugene, a Climate Guidebook, and priorities for upriver EWEB customers were the main topics at the Feb. 7 Board of Commissioners meeting. The five-member Board serves without pay and is elected by EWEB customers. Their job is to establish policies and values and set EWEB’s long-term direction. Board meetings are open to the public and include opportunities for public comment.
Find Out MoreIn January, our elected Board of Commissioners approved an agreement for EWEB to make an unprecedented bulk purchase of substation transformers.
Find Out MoreThe Eugene City Council approved the purchase of EWEB's former riverfront headquarters property at a meeting on Jan. 30. The terms of the deal state that the City of Eugene will purchase the 4.4-acre property, which includes two buildings and parking lots, for $12 million.
Find Out MoreAfter evaluating several proposals and opportunities, EWEB is focusing its negotiations to sell the former riverfront headquarters property to the City of Eugene. The exact terms and details of the deal will be negotiated during the next few weeks.
Find Out MoreThe EWEB Board of Commissioners started off their first meeting of 2023 by choosing a new board president and vice president.
Find Out MoreCommissioners unanimously voted to approve a Record of Decision endorsing the General Manager's Recommendation to decommission the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project and approved Resolution 2302 directing the GM to develop a Leaburg Hydroelectric Project Decommissioning Action Plan
Find Out MoreFor their final meeting of 2022, on Dec. 6, the EWEB Board of Commissioners grappled with some major decisions and looked ahead to a new year.
Find Out MoreCommissioners supportive of General Manager's recommendation to remove Leaburg Dam
Find Out MoreAt the Nov. 1st board meeting, EWEB Commissioners got an update on the budget and rates for next year and the EWEB quarterly report.
Find Out MoreMay 07, 2018
As a public utility, it's important for us to be open and transparent with you - our customer-owners. Here are some highlights for this month's meeting of your citizen-elected Board of Commissioners.
Staff delivered the preliminary findings of the 2017 residential electric pricing committee, gathered from a group of eight EWEB customers to study and provide guidance on potential structural changes to how we set residential electric prices.
Utilities in Lane County, throughout the state and across the nation are working to better align charges with actual costs. It's a complex undertaking, and customers sometimes struggle to understand the reasoning behind the changes.
Our "basic charge" is intended to recover fixed costs for service, traditionally limited to metering and billing services. However, the costs for maintaining poles, substations, power lines and other infrastructure also remain the same no matter how much electricity customers consume.
When a utility is overly-reliant on consumption-based charges to recover its fixed costs, revenue stability is at risk, particularly when electricity usage is flat or declining. It also means that higher usage customers can, in effect, end up subsidizing a portion of the fixed costs of low usage customers.
The pricing redesign discussions attempted to address revenue stability and customer equity issues, focusing on three residential electric pricing mechanisms and how such changes would impact different customers.
The committee advised EWEB to approach redesign with an eye toward the future and in a simple, incremental manner.
Commissioners supported a collapse of the consumption tiers, agreeing that in the current form, the tiers act more as a price penalty for winter heating than as a conservation incentive. Some commissioners supported a cautious and gradual approach to increasing the basic charge, while others did not support any basic charge increase at this time.
Staff and commissioners will continue working on this important issue.
Staff over the past few months has been asking the Board of Commissioners to review and suggest modifications to various customer service policies. This work has led to proposed changes that acknowledge customer service as a priority, and a "Promise To Customers" that includes enhanced privacy protections.
In May, commissioners provided feedback and direction on utility service charges and prices. EWEB charges some of the fees as a result of field visits, such as to connect or disconnect service. In the future, some of these activities will be performed remotely thanks to our modernization efforts, including the use of communicating smart meters. Commissioners supported revising or doing away with some of those fees related to field visits if such visits are no longer necessary.
The customer service policy update discussions will continue in June.
General Manager Frank Lawson sought feedback from commissioners on EWEB's Strategic Plan, adopted in August 2017. The plan has provided guidance for several decisions over the last eight months, including those associated with alternative water sources and smart meters.
Based on comments from commissioners and customers, Lawson sought direction on whether to include changes in the plan language that address:
Commissioners agreed that EWEB decisions and policies will have a significant impact on climate recovery now and in the future. They supported adding language around climate recovery, including electrification initiatives and pursuing future resource decisions that are low-carbon or carbon-free.
Staff presented commissioners with the new first quarter Strategic and Operational Report, similar to a 10-Q form required of publicly traded companies. The report provides a comprehensive and transparent view of EWEB results.
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