On members’ July electric bills, which were mailed on August 4, there was a message on the left hand side of the billing statement indicating the amount of capital credit equity allocated to each member for electricity purchased in 2015. This message only appears on your master account and only appears if you had an active account in 2015.

As a member-owner of your cooperative, you share in any annual margins. Your share of these margins is called “capital credits.” At the end of each year, these net margins are allocated to each member on a basis of the dollar amount of energy used during that year. We provided you with the amount of the allocation for the year on your electric billing statement.

These allocations are not available as cash nor can they be applied as payments on your electric bill. These monies are used by your cooperative for long-term debt retirement, reserves, emergencies, system improvements and other contingencies.

Capital credits may be paid to members as the board of directors deems appropriate and as the financial condition of the cooperative permits. RECC has returned over $3 million in capital credits to members, for all margins earned since our beginning in 1937 through 1982.

For more background on capital credits, click here.