Related News
Related News
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Community members can test out climate-friendly e-bikes at E-Bike Expo on Saturday
EWEB encourages Eugene residents to ride into summer on clean, accessible e-bikes, with a $300 e-bike rebate.
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EWEB Hosts Dinner to Appreciate Customers of the McKenzie River Valley
EWEB hosted a customer appreciation dinner at the Walterville Community Center on Thursday, May 23, in place of its yearly upriver Board meeting. The event allowed customers, EWEB Commissioners, and staff to share a meal and openly discuss topics most relevant to the McKenzie Valley community.
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EWEB bids a fond farewell to College Hill Reservoir and prepares for modern drinking water storage tanks
Several hundred Eugene residents came together on May 30 for a Farewell Celebration at EWEB’s College Hill Reservoir before demolition and construction to build modern drinking water storage tanks begins later this year.
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Tips to stay cool while saving money this summer
June is quickly approaching, and that means summer weather is just around the corner. Before you turn up the air conditioning and see an increase in your utility bill, try these tips to prepare your home for warmer weather to keep your home cool.
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EWEB offering additional energy efficiency supplement to qualified customers
Current EWEB residential electric customers may qualify to double their energy efficiency rebates with a limited time supplement.
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EWEB opens application for 2024 Electric Mobility Community Grants
Grant awards of up to $30,000 to cover costs associated with electric mobility projects.
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The Big Freeze 2024: After Action Report
Winter 2024 was one for the records books, and we'll look back on it for years to come and say, "That was a doozy!" The back-to-back January Ice Storms caused widespread damage to EWEB’s service territory, affecting approximately 38,000 customers. Preliminary repair costs were over $8 million, and additional repairs to transmission lines are still required.
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Fixing the Unseen: Water Pipeline Replacement in Unincorporated Eugene
Learn more about EWEB's methods for monitoring and replacing aged water pipelines.
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New tanks come online as EWEB modernizes water system
New drinking water storage tanks are one of several investments to ensure that EWEB can meet critical community needs in the event of an earthquake.
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Celebrate Earth Month by taking charge of your home's energy use
This Earth Month, learn how you can reduce your energy usage to help protect our planet and reduce carbon emissions.
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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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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