Every year, EWEB plans a decade ahead to keep your electric system running safely and reliably - and every year, we look hard for ways to do that at the lowest reasonable cost.
Your Electric Service is Highly Reliable
Despite the age of our equipment, the power we supply is 99% reliable, based on 2025 industry-standard metrics.
- Average Outage Time: 49 minutes (Comparable Utilities: 86 minutes per customer)
- Average Frequency of Outages: 0.3 outages (Comparable Utilities: 0.8 outages per customer)
In 2025, EWEB customers experienced about 43% less outage time and about 66% fewer outages than customers served by comparable utilities.
That level of electric reliability is due to the infrastructure that delivers it and the staff who maintain it. From power plants to distribution and transmission lines, substations to transformers — utility infrastructure is a complex system that requires investment and maintenance to provide constant, reliable power.
Why Continued Investment is Necessary
Much of Eugene’s electric infrastructure was installed in the 1960s and 1970s, and a significant portion of that equipment is reaching the end of its life, creating a “ballooning effect” as multiple systems age and require replacement at the same time. EWEB's 10-year capital plan focuses on renewing and modernizing substations, distribution feeders, and transmission infrastructure, while also incorporating seismic and wildfire risk into new designs.
How Cost Control Comes in
At the same time, we know that every dollar of investment eventually shows up on your bill, and we must consider what our community can realistically afford.
The 2027 Electric Capital Improvement Plan and Long-Term Financial Plan include deferring about $65 million in large infrastructure projects - spreading out or delaying work where it's safe to do so - specifically to soften the impact on customer rates.
Balancing reliability and affordability can require difficult choices. While some customers may experience longer or more frequent outages as a result of these deferrals, the reliability of your service would remain comparable to similar utilities. This tradeoff helps keep electric bills more affordable for our entire community.
Rebuilding EWEB Substations
EWEB plans to address an aging infrastructure bubble with several major substation rebuilds over the next 10 years, increasing load capacity to meet future needs and improving reliability by preventing outages caused by equipment failure.
Headwaters Trail Resiliency Upgrade
EWEB is upgrading electric equipment in Eugene’s largest natural resource area to increase infrastructure resiliency to natural disasters such as wildfire and winter storms.
Wildfire safety and prevention
Community wildfire prevention is increasingly important as climate, drought and a host of other issues are converging—resulting in more frequent and damaging wildfire events.
Modernizing Downtown Vaults
Over the past three years, EWEB has been upgrading the downtown underground power system by replacing six cable vaults with modernized, cost-effective infrastructure.
Transmission Line Rebuild
In December 2025, a winter storm eroded the north bank of the McKenzie River north of the Thurston substation, undermining and destroying a transmission structure carrying three EWEB transmission lines.
Budget and Rate Information
As a customer-owned utility, we do not operate to earn a profit. Prices are based on the costs to serve our community with safe, reliable water and electricity.
