If you move or leave Coastal Electric Cooperative, please keep us informed of your address in future years. You are still entitled to your capital credits and this will enable us to forward payment if and when the capital credits are refunded for the year or years of your membership. Please Note: We are currently searching for a number of members that had service with us for whom we attempted to send capital credit checks to but which were returned as undeliverable. If you recognize anyone on this list (in Adobe Reader .pdf format), please contact us and let us know how we can get in touch with these past members. Thank You. Frequently Asked Questions
The difference between a cooperative such as Coastal Electric and an investor-owned utility is that a cooperative is owned by the members it serves. As a member-owner, you share in the profits of the co-op. At the close of each fiscal year, all revenue received in excess of expenses (i.e. profits) is allocated back to the membership in the form of capital credits. This allocation is based on the dollar amount of electricity purchased during the same year. How do capital credits work? You need to know two things about capital credits in order to understand how they work for you: 1. Allocations: Each year, you are "allocated" your portion of the previous year's profit based on the amount of electricity you purchased from Coastal Electric Cooperative (CEC) in relation to the total amount of electricity purchased by all members during the year. This amount is put into a "holding account" for a number of years and used by CEC to fund capital needs for items such as power line construction, transformers, trucks, inventory and other equipment. This is an underlying principle of the cooperative business model and is one more way we keep your electric rates as low as possible. This "allocation" becomes your equity in the cooperative and is maintained in a separate account assigned to you. 2. Retirement: This is what you will get in cash at a later date. CEC uses the amount "allocated" to you for a time, but then returns this amount to members in the form of "retirements," which are actual "cash back" dollars to you. When are capital credits returned to members? Per cooperative bylaws, your locally elected Board of Directors determines the amount of retirement (cash back) each year, based on the financial condition of the cooperative and other considerations. These payments are usually made in December in the form of checks that are mailed out to the membership. Is my capital credit allocation taxable? For individuals, capital credits are generally not taxable. We suggest you seek the advice of a tax professional for any specific questions. What should a member do if he or she moves from our service area? The member should inform our office of any changes in his or her mailing address. It is a member's responsibility to make sure the cooperative has up-to-date address information at all times. Each year, hundreds of refund checks are returned to the cooperative with invalid addresses. CEC can be contacted by phone, fax, or email to update an address. What happens in case of a deceased member? Capital credits of a deceased member are paid to his or her estate following the same retirement methods that all members are subject to. Representatives of a deceased member's estate will receive a check each year for every year in which that member received service. Of course, all capital credit checks, including those to estates, will only we written when it is deemed that the cooperative is financially strong enough to retire capital credits that year. Contact us if you have questions about a deceased member's capital credits.What if I had service at more than one location at the same time? Members with multiple accounts for different locations will receive a consolidated capital credit allocation statement and/or check whenever possible, grouped under a single membership number. Please note that at times, a separate capital credit allocation statement and/or check will be sent to you. The detail on each account will be displayed on these forms for ease of tracking.
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Check your capital credit allocations online here
Capital Credits
are one of the benefits of being a cooperative member. Because we are nonprofit, revenues
that are collected in excess of expenses for any given year are allocated back to those
members who received service during that year. These margins are called capital credits.
They are used by Coastal Electric for operating funds to help grow the system and provide
the best service possible. After a period of time, capital credits are paid back to our
members as the financial condition of the cooperative permits and as bylaw provisions
are met.