The Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) is Oregon's largest customer-owned utility. Founded in 1911, it provides

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

and

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

to more than 86,000 customers in or around

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

. Chartered by the City of Eugene, a five-member Board of Commissioners is elected by the citizens of Eugene and governs the utility. Four commissioners are elected by their respective geographic wards; a fifth commissioner is

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

and elected by all of Eugene's voters. This board retains full control and sets policies for the water and electric utilities.

Electric resource portfolio

More than 95 percent of the electricity EWEB serves its customers comes from

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

and other sources that do not generate carbon-based emissions that are linked to global warming. Most of this electricity comes from the federal

Bonneville Power Administration The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is an American federal agency operating in the Pacific Northwest. BPA was created by an act of Congress in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River and to constr ...

and from EWEB's own hydroelectric projects. EWEB was the first public utility in Oregon to own a wind farm, and the utility has contracts to purchase a substantial amount of wind and geothermal power generated in the Northwest.

Power projects

Electric resource plan

EWEB’s Integrated Electric Resource Plan guides future resource decisions. Developed with the help of citizens, it prioritizes a continually aggressive

energy conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...

effort and the acquisition of

renewable A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...

power to meet increased demand that such effort cannot offset.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eugene Water and Electric Board Electric power companies of the United States Companies based in Eugene, Oregon Public utilities of the United States Water companies of the United States Energy companies established in 1911 1911 establishments in Oregon Public utilities established in 1911

Electric resource portfolio

Power projects

Electric resource plan

See also

References