EWEB customers will pay more for electricity and water starting in February. Tuesday Eugene Water and Electric Board commissioners approved a rate increase and called for a citizens’ advisory committee.
EWEB Commissioners voted to implement a 2 and a half percent across the board increase. EWEB president Steve Mital says this option preserves the existing rate structure.
The utility is hoping to change the structure in the future and called for recommendations from a yet-to-be-formed advisory group.
Mital says the group will include rate-payers.
Mital: “The citizen based committee hopefully will give us an opportunity to hear more clearly from a wider range of folks and ultimately come back with a proposal that feels fair to a wider base of folks here in Eugene.”
Mital says the increase was necessary because Bonneville Power Administration raised its rates. BPA provides EWEB with 60 percent of its electricity. EWEB had considered a boost to its base rate, but after public outcry, withdrew that proposal.