Sharing The Credit

WEC Returns More Than $2,100,000 in Capital Credits to Members

Wiregrass Electric Cooperative (WEC) members are also owners, and the electricity you purchase is your stake in this utility.

Each year, your WEC Board of Trustees gauges the cooperative’s financial stability, specifically how our revenue from sales of electricity compares to operating costs. Excess revenue, otherwise known as margins, is reinvested back into the cooperative to cover the cost of operations, equipment, and infrastructure needed to maintain lower rates and a reliable electric grid for members. These margins are called capital credits or patronage capital.

However, there comes a point when capital credits are retired and returned to members.

This year, we retired 100% of capital credits from 2006, meaning approximately $2,115,944 is being returned to members.

For active members, bill credits should have appeared on their primary accounts between August 27 and September 17. Inactive members were mailed checks to their last known addresses around Sept. 5 with a check date of August 31.

This action benefited roughly 6,413 active accounts and resulted in about 4,190 checks for inactive members.

This retirement will put WEC at a total of $22,700,000 returned to cooperative members to date.

How Do Capital Credits Work?

• Wiregrass Electric Cooperative carefully tracks how much electricity each member purchases.
• The cooperative’s finances are evaluated yearly to determine if there is excess revenue once expenses are paid.
• Any excess earnings, what we call capital credits, are used by the cooperative to provide services to its members, covering costs such as infrastructure improvements and technology upgrades.
• When the cooperative’s financial condition allows, WEC’s Board of Trustees may retire capital credits and return those credits to members in the form of bill credits for active members and payments for inactive members.