Broad River Electric Board Trustees (l-r) Bill Peeler, Kevin Moss, Mark Patterson, Bobby Foster, Dewitt McCraw, and Wayne West with the Capital Credits check to members.
Broad River Electric Cooperative mailed 9,218 checks to current and former members this week totaling $788,632. This is the first year Broad River Electric has mailed checks to members rather than applying a credit to the balance of their December electric bills.
“Capital credits are a tangible benefit and differentiate cooperatives from other utilities,” stated Broad River Electric Cooperative president and CEO Terry Mallard. “As member-owners, this is their portion of the cooperative’s margins and by receiving it in the form of a check, they can spend it however they please.”
Broad River Electric Cooperative is owned by its members, it doesn’t earn profits, but when revenues exceed expenses, the cooperative does earn margins. Each year, margins are allocated to members in the form of capital credits. Capital credits reflect member ownership in Broad River Electric, and the Cooperative uses members’ capital to fund operating activities and reduce borrowing, with the intent of later repaying that capital back to members.
Capital credits represent the most significant source of equity for Broad River Electric Cooperative. Since a cooperative’s members are also the people the cooperative serves, capital credits reflect each member’s ownership in, and contribution of capital to, the cooperative. This differs from investor-owned utilities who pay dividends to shareholders who may or may not be customers of the utility.
For more information about Broad River Electric’s capital credits, please call 866-687-2667