You may or may not know that Jasper County REMC operates according to a set of core principles known as the seven cooperative principles. They are open and voluntary membership; democratic member control; members’ economic participation; autonomy and independence; education; training, and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for the community.

Since capital credits were recently returned, I will discuss the third principle — members’ economic participation. You might be asking, what are capital credits? Capital credits are margins left over at the end of a year at a not-for-profit electric cooperative. Capital credits represent the most significant source of equity for Jasper County REMC. Since a cooperative’s “shareholders” are also the people the co-op serves, capital credits reflect each member’s ownership. This differs from dividends that investor-owned utilities pay shareholders, who may or may not be utility customers.

On a high level, this means Jasper County REMC tracks how much electricity you buy and how much money you pay for it throughout the year. At the end of the year, we complete financial matters and determine whether there are excess revenues, called margins. Those margins are then allocated back to members as capital credits based on their annual electric use.

Jasper County REMC’s board of directors decides annually whether to refund capital credits based on the cooperative’s financial health. In some years, the co-op may experience high growth of new accounts or severe storms that require additional funds to repair lines. Both events might keep member equity low, causing the board to defer any capital credits refunds. Therefore, Jasper County REMC’s ability to return margins to members through capital credits reflects the cooperative’s strength and financial stability.

In November of last year, we applied capital credits to eligible active accounts and noted the amount on the bill you received in December. We issued a check if the amount due was $600 or over or if the member had moved out of our service territory. We recently published a list of unclaimed capital credits from November 2021 in local newspapers and on our website. The deadline to claim those credits is Jan. 16.

We have a great team working here, and we are all committed to doing what we can to ensure we provide safe, reliable, and affordable electricity and internet for our members. Happy New Year!

Do you, or someone you know, have unclaimed capital credits from 2021? Go to our website to double-check before Jan. 16.