Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB)

EWEB NEWS 🚨 EWEB has been awarded $1 million for wildfire resiliency projects in partnership with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), McKenzie Fire And Rescue (MFR), and Eugene Springfield Fire. In Spring 2024, Oregon U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Ron Wyden secured major investments to strengthen forest health and wildfire resiliency, protect public lands and the environment, secure important programs for Tribes, and support critical projects for communities across the state. EWEB was one of 28 Oregon community-initiated projects awarded funding. EWEB and our partner agencies will work collaboratively to reduce wildfire fuels and boost resiliency in the lower McKenzie Valley and Eugene South Hills: 🌲 $350,000 to Eugene Water & Electric Board – EWEB will use funds to monitor and manage hazard trees near power lines in high-risk areas. EWEB will also work in consultation with Eugene Springfield Fire and ODF to identify priority areas for fuels reduction in the Eugene South Hills. 🌲 $325,000 to Oregon Department of Forestry – ODF will use funds to assist with fuels reduction projects such as land clearing and fuel breaks. 🌲 $325,000 to McKenzie Fire and Rescue – MFR will use funds for Firewise-type assessments and improving accessibility for first responders. Firewise assessments guide landowners on effective actions to mitigate wildfire risks around their home and property. “This funding will directly benefit over 150 private landowners and indirectly benefit surrounding landowners. Overall, the mitigation projects on electric infrastructure assets will support a resilient electric grid for all customers,” said EWEB Senior Project Manager Gina Dally. “The success of this project will create other avenues of funding opportunities for EWEB and local fire agencies to continue to mitigate wildfire hazards, enhance public safety, and protect the McKenzie watershed to preserve water quality.” The USDA Forest Service (USFS) is the agency administrating the funds to EWEB. Read the full story on our website: https://lnkd.in/et3w-5k8 #Eugene #EWEB #News #Wildfire #Resiliency

After years of discussing the need for change, 18 months of dedicated work with additional help from consulting partners, training across the organization, and over 80 pizzas, EWEB’s systems have been successfully TRANSFORMED. ✨   ✨ What changed? Our customer information and core financial systems got an overhaul, with a refreshed customer portal. The smooth migration of accounts, wallets, and autopay schedules meant that most customers only had to update their passwords to adapt to the new technology.    ✨ What does this change mean for EWEB? The modernization of legacy systems was a needed change that was baked into EWEB’s Strategic Plan. It will provide a resilient foundation for EWEB to be more effective, flexible, and adaptable to challenges and opportunities moving forward. As Travis Knabe says below, “EWEB will be well positioned to meet the challenges associated with the complex evolving utility landscape.”    EWEB is proud of the transformation team’s work, in awe of our staff embracing the new technology, and eternally grateful to customers who are adapting to the change with us. “Thank you” does not seem like enough, but we will say it anyway.    Thank you to all.   Is there a better way to close out the year?   #EWEB #OrganizationalChange #Modernization #ThankYou

"How do you become a line technician?" "What entry-level jobs do you have for recent graduates?" or from younger students, "Do you have to go to college to work at EWEB?" “What is EWEB doing for sustainability?” "Can I ride in a bucket truck?" When EWEB employees visit career fairs at local middle schools, high schools, and universities, we answer a lot of questions about EWEB’s work and the jobs available here. Some are about our day-to-day work, and some get to the heart of EWEB’s role in the community. Questions like: "What is a public utility?" or similarly, "Are you the government?" We always enjoy answering such a variety of great questions from all ages and are currently working on our career fair calendar for 2025. Have questions of your own? Feel free to ask away in the comments below. Otherwise, be sure to check our website eweb.org/careers as we post new positions regularly. #Eugene #Local #Recruiting #CareerFair (The photo above is from the Pleasant Hill Middle and High School career fair, and we also recently attended the University of Oregon's BizCareers in Outdoor, Apparel, and Sustainability event.)

Thanks to American Water Works Association for recognizing our Source Water Protection Champion Nancy Toth! 💧🏆 Nancy is a key team member in EWEB’s work to protect the McKenzie Watershed – the source of drinking water for 200,000 people. Nancy’s work ranges from leading regional partnerships in prioritizing wildfire recovery efforts to teaching the next generation about watershed stewardship. We are lucky to have Nancy at EWEB as an advocate for our drinking water. Read Nancy’s interview here: https://lnkd.in/gp8Bvi_e #EWEB #SourceWaterProtection #WaterChampion

EWEB commemorated the completion of the rebuilding of the Currin Substation with a ribbon cutting. ⚡️ We invited special guests to learn how a substation works and how the new substation will be upgraded to meet future demand and modern seismic resiliency. Substations change, or "step down," high-voltage electricity from power generation stations to levels that can be safely distributed to homes and businesses. EWEB is known for its "resilient electric spine," comprising 38 substations. The system's redundancy in substations ensures that customers receive reliable power despite unexpected equipment failures. That's why rebuilding the Currin Substation, considered EWEB's "Grand Central Station," was a major priority. Built in 1962 during Eugene's rapid expansion, the Currin Substation feeds power from transmission lines owned by the Bonneville Power Administration and PacifiCorp to EWEB’s grid. It also connects transmission lines to the Hayden Bridge water filtration plant and to Eugene’s downtown electrical network. EWEB engineers, field staff, and contractors have spent the past two years rebuilding the substation from the ground up to maintain electric reliability and meet modern standards. The Currin Substation is just the first of several substations scheduled for a major rebuild over the next ten years as part of EWEB's major infrastructure investments for rehabilitating, replacing and installing new infrastructure. Thank you, EWEB Commissioners, Eugene City Councilor Randall B. Groves, EFO, and City Council President Matt Keating, City of Eugene Government Emergency Management Zoe Rolly-Keef, Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis, and Senator James I. Manning Jr. for joining us for the celebration. #EWEB #Eugene #Electricreliability #Resiliency

How do fifth graders view electricity? ⚡️ We asked students from across our service territory to illustrate the theme “Powered by EWEB” for our annual Public Power Week Poster Contest. EWEB received 185 stellar submittals, where staff narrowed the posters down to the top 20. Customers, social media followers, and those who attended EWEB's Truck-or-Treat Event voted for the top five to receive awards. And the winners are: 🏅 First Place: Chloe, Walterville Elementary, Springfield Public Schools (Oregon) 🏅 Second Place: Lane, Walterville Elementary 🏅 Third Place: Ben and Frances, Edison Elementary, 4J School District 🏅 Fourth Place: Juniper, Camas Ridge Community School, 4J School District 🏅 Fifth Place: Mimi, Camas Ridge Community School Our first-place winner illustrated how electricity powers the devices she uses in daily life. Other awardees show how electricity is used to take care of their pets, power kitchen appliances, and illuminate imagined cityscapes. Public Power Week is an annual celebration of customer-owned, community-powered utilities like EWEB. Because of our ownership structure, all decisions at EWEB are made with the community in mind. Please join us in congratulating our award winners and talented participants with a round of applause! 👏 #EWEB #Eugene #PPW #PublicPowerWeek

Congrats to EWEB’s Heather Leanne Brown, who was nominated and selected as a 2024 winner for Eugene’s Outstanding Women in Business! Heather is a hydroplant operator and electrician at EWEB. She overcame childhood poverty and proved her doubters wrong by working hard to make a career in the trades. “Since joining IBEW 659 and EWEB, I have received nothing but acceptance and respect regardless of gender, tattoos, piercings or my style,” Heather told What’s Happening in Eugene. “I’m surrounded by talented and respectful people who inspire me to be my best, give back to the community, and I want my appreciation for my experiences in the last three years to show in my participation,” Heather added. “I hope that I’m able to inspire youth who may be struggling at home and can’t see themselves going to college to consider joining a trade and union.” She is proud of altering perceptions about women in the trades and wants to pave the way for other women to make it in the trades. Her message for the community is that “Everyone brings something to the table, particularly when they are accepted and appreciated.” Read the interview: https://lnkd.in/gwe6nxuW

The magic of Halloween came early at EWEB as we held our first-annual Truck-or-Treat customer and crew appreciation event on October 25. 👻 1,200 people, including customer and crew families, came together under sunny skies at our Roosevelt Operations Center to gather candy and marvel at our fantastic fleet. Twelve of EWEB’s community-owned fleet vehicles were decorated for the event. One of our large bucket trucks was transformed into a dragon, a backhoe into Bob the Builder, and a dump truck took on a harvest theme for photo ops. Even with all these decorations, we kept to tight budget and put on the whole event for less than 3 cents per customer. Each truck was paired with a poster describing its purpose and role in the fleet. The posters also included snapshots of crew members who work around the clock to keep water and electricity flowing to homes. EWEB employees went above and beyond during the event; some even costumed to match the trucks where they were handing out candy. Other EWEB families came to see their parents' workplace and trucks. Families from within the organization and our community left with sugar-filled happy memories of EWEB, and we cannot wait to do it again next year! #EWEB #Eugene #Halloween

SHAKE OUT. DON'T FREAK OUT! EWEB participated in the worldwide ShakeOut drill with over 500,000 other Oregonians last week. EWEB staffers across the utility participated in the drill, received test emergency notifications (text, email, and call), and practiced evacuating the building. This annual drill helps the people at EWEB prepare for the BIG ONE, the Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake.

Congratulations are in order! 🎉 Kelly E. Hoell, climate policy analyst and advisor, and Ben Ulrich, lead energy resource analyst, recently graduated from the Western Energy Institute’s Business Acumen for Emerging Leaders (WEI BAEL) program. The BAEL program is a nine-month leadership and industry training program specifically designed for the energy industry. During the program, teams develop a presentation that they deliver to a room full of executives at the WEI Annual Meeting. Kelly’s team presentation was titled “Electrification & Equity: Will we get it right?” It focused on how electrification is not happening uniformly across service territories, but utilities, as natural monopolies, still have an obligation to serve all customers. Her presentation used EWEB as a case study for bringing equity considerations into the program design and incentive program structure for things like the transition to electric mobility.   Ben’s capstone team presentation, “Forecasting the Future: Weather Predictions in Utility Operations,” emphasized the growing significance of weather and climate forecasting in the electric and gas utility sectors. The presentation underscored how utilities increasingly rely on accurate weather data for operations, resource planning, and infrastructure investments.   EWEB could not be more proud. Please join us in congratulating Kelly and Ben! 🎉 #EWEB #Graduates #WesternEnergyInstitute #BAEL