Capital Credits
The Craighead Electric Cooperative Corporation (the “Coop”) Board of Directors has authorized the return of $1,434,300.00 in capital credits (also known as patronage capital) for the year 1993. If you received electrical service in your name in 1993, you are entitled to receive a monetary credit based on how much you paid the Coop for electric service during that year.
The best way to insure that you receive any money due to you is to keep your mailing address current. To check or update your mailing address with the Coop, please call the Coop toll free at 1-800-794-5012. Even if you are no longer a member of the Coop, you will receive your proportionate share of the capital credits authorized by the Board as long as your mailing address remains current.
Capital credits that are paid are margins earned by the Coop over and above all expenses and funds necessary to operate the Coop. Since a Coop’s members are also the people who are served (purchase electricity), the capital credits are paid to the members unlike municipal or investor owned utilities. These are different from the dividends paid by or from investor owned utilities as they pay dividends to their shareholders who may or may not be customers of that utility.
Each year the decision to pay capital credits is decided by the Board based on the financial health of the Coop. During some years, the Coop may experience high growth in the number of new accounts added or severe storms may result in the need to spend additional funds to repair lines. Both of these events may keep affect the funds needed to maintain and operate the Coop in which event the Board may defer any refunds of capital credits in that year. However, members do not lose capital credits, they are simply deferred until such time as the Board determines that it is proper to pay them for a particular year. Prior to this year, the Coop refunded all capital credits from its founding in 1937 through 1992.
Members who received electric service in 1993 will receive a check in the mail in November (if we have your current address) unless the total amount of the refund is less than $20.00. Due to the expense of processing and mailing checks if the amount of refund is less than $20.00, it will be credited to the member’s December 2017 electric bill. By paying these capital credits from 1993, the Coop will have returned $19,142,490.00 to current and former members in capital credit payments.