The total electric and water utility budget for 2024 is $471.5 million, a decrease of 0.4% or $2.1 million from 2023.

The overall budget reduction underscores EWEB’s commitment to controlling costs and operating as efficiently as possible. Even as we deal with a bubble of aging infrastructure that requires massive investment, we are finding ways to manage expenses responsibly and leverage prudent financial practices.

Despite a slight decrease in the overall budget, rates will gradually rise over the next few years to ensure that we have the financial stability and capacity to make significant infrastructure investments over the next decade.

At the Dec. 5, 2023 public meeting, EWEB's Board of Commissioners approved a budget that includes the following rate increases effective February 2024, which are necessary to support utility operations and make needed infrastructure investments:

Residential

ELECTRIC

• Basic charge: Increase $1.50 per month
• Usage charge: Increase less than 1 cent per kilowatt hour

WATER*

• Basic charge: Increase $1.85 per month
• Usage charge: Increase approximately 14 cents per 1,000 gallons

*Inside City limits based on 9,000 gallons average usage. Excludes wholesale customers and elevation pumping charges.

Beginning in February 2024 the average household will pay around $14 more per month, or 48 cents per day, for electricity and water combined. This is based on using 9,000 gallons of water and 1,600 kWh of electricity; actual bill changes may be lower or higher depending on actual usage.

Plan for 2024 rate changes

Download our bill calculator (Excel file) to estimate how 2024 rate changes will affect your EWEB electric bill. To find your actual electric usage, look on Page 2 of your EWEB bill.

Commercial

Some of the major factors driving 2024 price changes

• Water investments – including constructing a treatment plant on the Willamette River, replacing aging water storage tanks, and strengthening pipelines
• Electric investments – including rebuilding aging substations, and upgrading the Carmen-Smith hydroelectric project
• Purchased power costs – including rising costs of power supplied by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)
• Global inflationary pressures – rising costs of equipment such as pipes (up 50% in the past two years), transformers (up 50-85%), and power poles (up 30%)
• Regulatory Environment – Increasing regulations are placing more requirements and restrictions on EWEB investments and operations 

We value and respect our customer-owners’ financial resources by controlling costs and rates.

EWEB reduced or kept residential electric prices flat for six out of 10 years between 2014-2023. Residential water prices were stable or reduced four years in a row between 2017-2020.

When you pay your bill, you deserve to know where your dollar goes, what may impact future prices and how you can reduce your monthly costs.

As a customer-owned utility, EWEB does not operate to earn a profit. You own EWEB – not independent investors or shareholders.

That means that unlike an investor-owned utility, there are no profit margins or shareholder dividends built into your EWEB rates. Electric and water prices are based on the costs to:

1. Operate and maintain the electric and water systems
2. Meet regulatory obligations and statutes
3. Invest in system improvements that make your services better
4. Protect natural resources near our facilities, and
5. Maintain the financial health of the utility

What do you get for $1?

As an EWEB customer, the average rate for a kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity is about 10 cents. Put another way, you could power an energy-efficient 9-watt LED light bulb for more than 1,000 hours for only a dollar. You could watch around 250 hours of TV or charge an electric bike 15 times. Where else can you get that kind of value?

How much food, coffee or medicine will $1 buy? How far would you get with a dollar of gas?

And what about your smartphone? Using EWEB’s price of about 10 cents per kWh, you can fully charge your iPhone more than 1,800 times for $1. That means you can charge your phone once every day of the year for about 20 cents total.

The cost of water is even less. Using EWEB’s price of about $1.50 per 1,000 gallons you could take 39 showers, run your dishwasher 190 times, water more than 1,000 square feet of lawn—all for less than $1.

Your rates support clean energy

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are fortunate to have access to some of the cleanest power in the nation.About 90 percent of EWEB’s annual energy comes from carbon-free resources and we’re committed to doing even better.In January 2022, the Board of Commissioners approved a Climate Change Policy (PDF) that targets over 95 percent of annual energy from carbon-free resources by 2030. That means that your rates support a grid that’s getting greener over time.

Learn how we're planning for EWEB's long-term energy needs.

Your rates keep the lights on and water flowing

The clean, safe water and electricity we all rely on would not be possible without the infrastructure that delivers it. From power plants to distribution and transmission lines, substations and transformers, pipes, reservoirs and pump stations — utility infrastructure is a complex system that requires investment and maintenance to provide constant, reliable power and water.

EWEB plans for major infrastructure investments through our Capital Improvement Plan, a 10-year plan for rehabilitating, replacing or installing new infrastructure. 

To meet the current and future needs of our community and ensure reliable service, some of the major projects we’re planning and budgeting for include:

• Rebuilding substations to increase capacity and improve reliability
• Investing in updated meter technology to reduce costs and improve service
• Implementing wildfire safety and prevention programs
• Building a water treatment plant on the Willamette River to improve the resiliency of our water supply 
• Upgrading the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project 
• Upgrading and supplementing water storage tanks
• Addressing the structural vulnerabilities of the Leaburg Canal 

Basic charges explained

If you look at your EWEB bill, you will notice different types of charges that make up the total amount owed. These types of charges vary by customer class (residential, commercial, and industrial), but fixed charges (Cost of Basic Service) and volumetric charges (kWh and KGAL) are always present. The fixed charge is intended to ensure each customer is paying a fair share of the cost to access electric and water services.

Read more about basic charges.

EWEB’s prices for power and water are comparable to or less than state, regional and national averages.

The prices you pay are meant to promote efficient use of water and electricity and to ensure that EWEB adequately covers our costs in a way that is fair, stable and affordable to customers.

There are three main activities associated with setting customer rates:

1. Determining a revenue requirement: How much does EWEB need to collect from customers in a year to cover costs associated with running the utility?
2. Allocating the revenue requirement: How do we ensure various customer classes (residential, business, large industrial, etc.) pay their fair share of the cost for getting water and power to their homes and facilities?
3. Establishing rates: How do we set prices that reflect the fixed and variable costs of providing services and incentivize customers to use electricity and water wisely?

EWEB begins the rate-setting process annually every spring.

Through a series of public meetings, your elected Board of Commissioners provides direction on spending for major capital projects and potential price changes for customers.

During the summer and fall, EWEB staff follow that direction from the Board to develop a proposed spending budget for the following year.

The final budget is adopted in December after two public hearings in November and December during which customers are invited to provide testimony on any proposed adjustments.

Read more: How does EWEB recover the costs of serving customers?

Looking to the future

Utility rate setting practices continue to evolve with advancing energy markets and technology.

Looking ahead, we will need to continue to design rate structures that reflect the true costs of providing electric and water services. We’re exploring ways to better align rates with the times of the day when electricity is in highest demand.

Investments in smart meters, coupled with technologies such as electric vehicles and smart home appliances, will change traditional electricity pricing, allowing us to offer more accurate rate structures that provide customers with more choices and control.

One example is real-time pricing. Other utilities have implemented programs where electricity prices vary hourly over the course of the day to reflect fluctuating costs of providing that electricity. When the costs are lower for the utility, the costs are lower for the customer.

Just as prices for electricity can vary hour by hour, so can the carbon content of electricity production. 

Although EWEB's energy portfolio is composed almost entirely of carbon-free power, we are part of a highly integrated regional energy grid that includes coal and natural gas. When the highest ("peak") level of electricity is being used in the region, there is generally more of this carbon-intensive energy on the grid. Prices can be set to reward customers for shifting their energy use to off-peak hours and to take advantage of surplus renewables on the grid.

These are just a few of the possible changes on the horizon. But even as we look at price changes in 2024 and beyond, we are interested in keeping rates as low as possible because we know that our customers value affordability and expect that from us.

At EWEB, we have always encouraged efficiency and conservation first. We like to say the cheapest, greenest electron is the one you never use. That’s why we make around $3 million per year available to help customers upgrade things like windows, insulation, water heaters, and heating units. Rebates are enhanced for limited income customers, in some cases covering the full cost to upgrade.

Rebates and zero-interest loans can make your home more energy efficient.

Conserving energy and water can reduce your utility costs.

Bill assistance is available to qualifying customers.

Understanding your EWEB statement and tracking usage over time is a key element to managing your bill.

Did you winter electric bill take a jump? This video explains how to read your bill to uncover reasons for the increase.