The Eugene Water & Electric Board will continue to buy electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration for nearly two decades.
The utility and the federally-run electricity producer signed an agreement that will provide between $2.5 and $3 billion worth of power.
EWEB will continue to receive a similar amount of electricity from BPA as it has in recent years, according to EWEB spokesperson Aaron Orlowski.
"The power that Bonneville provides is reliable. It comes from these hydro-electric systems that generate electricity very reliably,” said Orlowski. “It’s affordable, it’s low-cost, we actually get that power at cost. There’s not a mark-up of any kind from BPA. And it’s carbon-free."
Bonneville’s portfolio includes 31 dams along the Columbia River and its tributaries, as well as a nuclear power plant in eastern Washington.
Orlowski said Bonneville’s hydroelectric dams often generate power at cheaper rates than EWEB’s own hydroelectric facilities.
BPA-generated electricity was cited in EWEB'S 2023 decision to decommission its Leaburg Project hydropower facility on the McKenzie River. At that time, the utility said BPA electricity was less than one-third of the cost of hydroelectric power generated by EWEB.
