Over $2.6 million on the way to Coastal Electric Cooperative 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.»