Your electric co-op exists to provide you with safe, reliable, and affordable energy. Equally important is their mission to enrich your life.

Your electric utility is locally owned. In fact, you and your neighbors own it.

That’s the nature of the cooperative way of doing business. A cooperative is owned by the people who use its services. That’s why your cooperative refers to you as a consumer-member.

As a member-owner of a cooperative, you have a say in how your electric cooperative operates. You may attend the cooperative’s annual membership meeting, vote for which of your neighbors may sit on its board of directors, or even run for a seat on the board yourself.

Not only that: your electric co-op’s leadership team and employees live right here in the community.

Your co-op’s close connection to the community ensures they get a first-hand perspective on local priorities, thereby enabling them to make more informed decisions on programs that are important to you.

Your co-op’s staff and board members continue to learn from their members about their priorities so that they can better serve you.

You get the credit

Electric cooperatives aren’t like other utilities. As a consumer and member, you own a portion of the business. And one benefit of that membership involves the allocation of excess revenue, called margins, in the form of capital credits.

Electric co-ops operate at cost, collecting enough revenue to run and expand the business but without raising rates to generate profits for distant shareholders. When a co-op has money left over, it’s allocated back to you and other members as capital credits when the co-op’s financial position permits. The capital credits are typically returned to members in cash or as a bill credit.

Allocating and retiring excess revenue to members helps distinguish cooperatives. Indiana’s electric cooperatives are proud to support their communities by putting money back into the local economy — and into the pockets of those they serve. It’s one way the cooperative business model is so special.

Contact your co-op to learn more about capital credits and other programs available to members.