Steam transition facts
Photo of steam utility
  • EWEB steam customers include downtown businesses; medical service providers; large, multi-unit residential facilities; government offices and churches.
  • The six miles of distribution lines serving these customers are in various stages of decay, and no longer efficiently deliver steam.
  • EWEB estimates it loses about half the energy it purchases to produce and deliver steam to its steam customers – primarily due to the inefficiencies of the steam distribution system.
  • Significant capital investments to upgrade the distribution system would be required under any future operating scenario.
  • In 1985, the steam utility served 124 customers. Today it serves 75, which means that fixed costs and energy losses spread over fewer customers puts upward pressure on steam rates.
  • Given the precipitous decline in customer demand, upgrading the system would not be fiscally responsible.
  • Over the past two decades, EWEB has studied the concept of a steam district and the capital expenditures such an undertaking would require.
  • Among the greatest challenges of creating a steam district is that the downtown area lacks the dense, compact load demands required for a successful steam district.
  • If using an onsite, high-efficiency natural gas system, the average steam customer would pay about 34 cents in heating costs per square foot of building area, compared with 56 cents using steam – primarily due to the inefficient distribution system.
  • PeaceHealth, the steam utility's largest customer, has shifted the bulk of its operations to the new RiverBend Medical Center in Springfield. PeaceHealth's University District Medical Center has a final contract with the steam utility that expires in December 2011.
  • The natural gas boiler EWEB uses to create steam represents the utility's largest source of carbon dioxide.
  • EWEB is working with public and private partners to leverage funds to help steam customers with the transition. These initiatives include identifying low-interest loans, applying for various grants and funding a transition study that assesses heating options for each steam customer.