Related News
Related News
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Sustainability Snapshot - Homes for Good May 2025
Our first Sustainability Snapshop highlights a project where EWEB teamed up with longtime partner, Homes for Good, to deliver ductless heat pumps to income-eligible apartment rentals.
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EWEB environmental specialist wins prestigious awards for publication
Article recounting EWEB’s efforts to protect the McKenzie River after Holiday Farm Fire earns national recognition
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Last Call for EWEB/Lane County Septic Grants
Holiday Farm Fire recovery program now eligible for businesses, residential property owners who purchased post-fire, to cover inspection costs and new construction
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EWEB, Lane County host open house to gather feedback for “Leaburg Transportation Alternatives Analysis”
“What is the Future of the Leaburg Dam Bridge?” open house exhibit on display at Lloyd Knox Park Visitor Pavilion through July 25
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EWEB Pilots New Line Safety Program for 4th graders.
This year, EWEB is ramping up power line safety for children, specifically 4th graders.
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Improving habitat resiliency throughout the Upper McKenzie
Environmental Responsibility is a core guiding value for EWEB decision-making. This summer, EWEB continues its commitment to environmental stewardship with a robust slate of habitat enhancement updates throughout the upper McKenzie River, across the footprint of the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project.
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Habitat Restoration Underway on McKenzie River
Partners at EWEB, McKenzie River Trust, the McKenzie Watershed Council, and the U.S. Forest Service broke ground on a major floodplain restoration project in Quartz Creek.
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Infrastructure upgrades at Nightingale Hosted Shelters made possible through powerful public-nonprofit partnership
Nightingale Hosted Shelters, EWEB, and the City of Eugene celebrate infrastructure milestone
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EWEB opens applications for 2025 Electric Mobility Community Grant
The Eugene Water & Electric Board is now accepting applications for the 2025 Electric Mobility Grant, reinforcing EWEB's commitment to sustainability and cleaner transportation.
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Walterville Hydroelectric Project to remain offline through 2025
EWEB continues to pursue repair plans but must fulfill additional investigation requirements before resuming operation.
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Watch the Recording: Financial Preparedness for Disasters
How will you financially recover after a disaster? This seminar gives key insights into preparing your finances ahead of time.
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Greenpower subscribers vote to award Greenpower Grant to SquareOne Villages
The Greenpower Grant, funded solely by voluntary customer subscriptions, supports local sustainability projects.
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Water professionals showcase skills in Cascade to Coast Competition
Representatives from local utilities competed to see who has the best-testing water, who can assemble a water meter the fastest and who find the most creative way to solve a routine problem that water utility professionals often face.
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Energy conservation could offset large portion of growth in power demand
Preliminary results of an EWEB study indicate that cutting back demand can contribute to maintaining a reliable, affordable energy supply.
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Small number of McKenzie Valley EWEB customers face higher February bills due to estimated reads
EWEB under-estimated energy usage for about one-fifth of upriver customers in December or January, resulting in higher true-up bills in February.
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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