TRI-COUNTY RETURNING $750,000 IN CAPITAL CREDITS TO MEMBERS
MANSFIELD, Pa. (Dec. 2, 2020) — Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative will be returning $750,000 in capital credits to members and former members of the cooperative beginning in December.
The Tri-County board of directors voted in October to approve the retirement of capital credits allocated to members’ accounts in 1989 and 2019.
Current Tri-County members who received electric service from the cooperative in the retirement years will receive a credit on their December electric bills.
Inactive Tri-County members entitled to a credit who have since moved from the cooperative’s service area will be issued paper checks, which will be mailed Dec. 14.
Capital credits reflect margins the cooperative realizes at the end of each year. Margins are the excess of income over expenses.
Because cooperatives are member-owned, not-for-profit enterprises, margins are allocated back to the members in the form of capital credits. The amount of the allocation to a member’s account is based on that member’s energy consumption during the retirement years.
The cooperative retains margins for a period of time to be used as working capital to assist in the financing of plant replacement and to build and maintain the electric system. When the co-op is financially able to do so, it retires margins by returning capital credits, also known as patronage capital, to members.
This capital credits retirement marks the fourth year of the cooperative’s hybrid capital credits program, which allows for the return of patronage capital in full for mature capital credits allocated in 1989, as well as the return of capital credits earned by members in the most recent year, 2019, at a discounted rate.
“I am extremely pleased that the cooperative is in a strong financial position and able to return capital credits to members again this year,” said Craig Eccher, Tri-County’s president and chief executive officer.
Eccher noted that the cooperative has returned approximately $6.5 million in capital credits to members since 2010.
Gerald A. “Arnie” Kriner, chairman of Tri-County’s board of directors, said the board always considers the financial standing of the cooperative before approving the return of margins to members.
“The ability to return capital credit refunds to members reflects on the financial health of the electric cooperative,” Kriner said, “and Tri-County is closing out the year in an excellent financial position.”
Kriner added that capital credits refunds are one of the many benefits of being a member of an electric cooperative.
“Co-ops exist to make sure the needs of their members are being met, not to make a profit,” Kriner said. “When we have a strong financial year, the members are able to enjoy the rewards of membership by receiving a capital credits refund.”
With headquarters in Mansfield, Pa., Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative provides electric distribution service to approximately 17,000 members in Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, McKean, Cameron and Clinton counties.
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