Members reap co-op benefits through capital credits

A Mes­sage from Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive CEO & Exec­u­tive VP Chris Fettes

The hol­i­day sea­son brings a spir­it of gen­eros­i­ty and com­pas­sion. It’s a time to reflect on our many bless­ings and uplift those in need. While this is cer­tain­ly a spe­cial time of year, coop- era­tives like Coastal Elec­tric are deeply root­ed in giv­ing back to their local com­mu­ni­ties year-round.

Our mis­sion is reli­able pow­er. Our pur­pose is people—the mem­bers we’re proud to serve. You help us pow­er that pur­pose. Coastal Elec­tric Cooperative’s Oper­a­tion Round Up pro­gram is made pos­si­ble through mem­bers’ par­tic­i­pa­tion in “round­ing up” elec­tric bills to the next dol­lar amount. Your gen­er­ous con­tri­bu­tions help less for­tu­nate fam­i­lies in our com­mu­ni­ty and sup­port local char­i­ta­ble orga­ni­za­tions and com­mu­ni­ty ser­vices.

Anoth­er way Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive gives back is by invest­ing in tomorrow’s lead­ers. Through pre­sen­ta­tions at schools, schol­ar­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties, Learn­ers Today Lead­ers Tomor­row and the Wash­ing­ton Youth Tour pro­gram, we aim to empow­er stu­dents for a brighter future. When we invest in our local youth, we strength­en the fab­ric of our com­mu­ni­ty.

As a not-for-prof­it elec­tric coop­er­a­tive, we believe in giv­ing cred­it where cred­it is due—to the mem­bers who shape our co-op. One of the ways we do this is through cap­i­tal cred­its. Because Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive oper­ates at cost, we give mon­ey back to our mem­bers rather than out­side investors or share­hold­ers.

Here’s how cap­i­tal cred­its work:

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive mem­bers use the elec­tric­i­ty we pro­vide and pay their month­ly bills, and we track their busi­ness with the co-op over time. Coastal Elec­tric pays all oper­at­ing expens­es through­out the year, and if any oper­at­ing rev­enue is left over, we allo­cate it as cap­i­tal cred­its. When finan­cial con­di­tions per­mit, the co-op’s board of direc­tors votes to pay cap­i­tal cred­its back to the mem­bers.

Those who paid elec­tric bills to Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive any time from 2008–2009 can expect mon­ey back from the co-op by the end of Decem­ber. In total, Coastal Elec­tric will retire over $2.6 mil­lion in cap­i­tal cred­its to around 11,000 mem­bers who received ser­vice dur­ing those years.

Checks will be mailed in Decem­ber to those receiv­ing a refund of more than $25. Amounts less than $25 will be deliv­ered in the form of bill cred­its.

To date, Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive has retired near­ly $16 mil­lion in cap­i­tal cred­its to mem­bers.

Retir­ing cap­i­tal cred­its is part of the coop­er­a­tive busi­ness mod­el, and is a reg­u­lar prac­tice of the not-for-prof­it co-op. When mem­ber rev­enues exceed costs, those mar­gins become the member’s equi­ty in the coop­er­a­tive. When the finan­cial strength of the coop­er­a­tive allows, the mem­ber-elect­ed board of direc­tors can order the return of a por­tion of that equi­ty.

The Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive board of direc­tors approved this year’s cap­i­tal cred­its retire­ment dur­ing a board meet­ing Oct. 30.

Because they have vot­ing rights and oth­er ben­e­fits, those who pay bills to Coastal Elec­tric are “mem­bers,” not just cus­tomers. As the co-op is not-for-prof­it, mem­bers’ elec­tric bills col­lec­tive­ly cov­er what is need­ed to sup­ply pow­er to their homes and busi­ness­es – gen­er­at­ing the pow­er at plants, buy­ing lines and poles to deliv­er elec­tric­i­ty, main­tain­ing equip­ment to keep ser­vice reli­able, and com­pen­sat­ing employ­ees who make it all hap­pen.

When the co-op’s elect­ed board of direc­tors deter­mines it is finan­cial­ly fea­si­ble, Coastal Elec­tric retires excess mar­gins back to mem­bers, allo­cat­ed by how much elec­tric­i­ty they used in a giv­en year.

Get more infor­ma­tion on cap­i­tal cred­its.»