Cuivre River Electric Cooperative (CREC) members will receive just over $6 million in the first week of August as part of the cooperative’s capital credit refund program. An amount of $6,074,379 will be distributed, a decision recently made by CREC’s Board of Directors.

Capital credits are similar to profit margins in other businesses and represent members’ ownership equity. If funds remain after all expenses for providing electric services have been met, capital credits are allocated after the close of a fiscal year. Member capital is used in place of commercial loans to make infrastructure improvements and lower borrowing expenses and operational costs. The amount of each member’s refund is based on a formula determined by the quantity and cost of kilowatt-hours (kwhs) purchased annually. Since 1976, CREC has returned $131 million to current and former members.

This year’s refunds include a portion of the cooperative’s 1999, 2000, and 2022 margins. They include 10 percent of members’ equity from 2000, 25 percent from 2022, and 100 percent of the remaining equity from 1999.  

The majority of current members will receive a check or a credit to their account, to be mailed or posted during the first week of August. Members with refunds of less than $25 or with a 30-day past-due balance will not receive a check. These refunds will be posted as energy bill credits to their account.

Capital credits are a unique benefit of being served by an electric cooperative and make CREC very different from most Missouri utilities. Investor-owned electric utilities send their margins, or profits, to stockholders, and municipally-owned utilities keep their profits. For more information, visit cuivre.com/capitalcredits, or call us at 800-392-3709.

Things you should know:

1. Your capital credits are reserved for you even if you discontinue CREC service. CREC will attempt to reach you when refunds are made if a current address is on file.
2. Checks will expire after six months. Checks returned by mail are held while they remain valid. After six months they are applied as bill credits to their respective active accounts. By request, checks may also be donated to Operation Round Up for families in need.
3. To claim a check returned by mail, you must provide valid identification.
4. In accordance with CREC bylaws, to alert former members who were issued either capital credit checks or other refund checks but have not yet claimed them after two years, a notice will be published in two consecutive issues of a local newspaper in the counties where those former members last received service. Checks unclaimed after 60 days of this publication requirement are assigned to the cooperative. The list of names with unclaimed checks will be posted on the co-op’s website here.
5. If you call to establish new service, tell us if you’ve previously been a CREC member to help us keep past and current records up-to-date.