Capital Credit Returns<\/h3>\n

Every year the Co-op\u2019s Directors look at the Co-op\u2019s financial health and decide how and when to return Capital Credits.<\/p>\n

\n
• Some years the profits are too small to warrant payments<\/li>\n
• In other years when the profits are greater, the board has a few options:\n
  \n
  • The board may decide to retain some of the profits to be used as working capital or to upgrade a portion of the electric system<\/li>\n
  • Some Credits are returned to members in cash<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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    \n

    How are Capital Credits Paid<\/h2>\n

    Historically, Ravalli County Electric Cooperative has paid Capital Credits in order of \u201cfirst in, first out.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n
    • The 1930\u2019s were paid, then the \u201940\u2019s, the \u201950\u2019s, the \u201960\u2019s, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 and so on<\/li>\n
    • Ravalli Electric has paid off all Credits due for all years up to and including 2002<\/li>\n
    • Most Co-ops around the country are similarly still paying Credits from approximately 25 years ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Changes to the Formula<\/h3>\n

      \n
      • From 2009 to 2016 the board of directors chose to pay only the older years<\/li>\n
      • In 2017, the board of directors elected to change the formula for payments so the Co-op paid a portion of the oldest year on file and a portion of the new year<\/li>\n
      • This change resulted in thousands of newer consumers getting a Capital Credit check for the first time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Capital Credits are Hard Assets<\/h3>\n

        \n
        • Some consumers assume that Capital Credits are like savings accounts with cash set aside for each member<\/li>\n
        • Capital Credits are actually in the form of hard assets \u2013 poles, wire, trucks, and buildings<\/li>\n
        • It would make no sense for the Co-op to pay back large Capital Credit payments and then borrow money from the bank to replenish working capital<\/li>\n
        • Interest payments for borrowed money would be passed on to the consumer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Keeping Rates Low<\/h3>\n

          \n
          • Returning Capital Credits is a balancing act<\/li>\n
          • No one wants to raise electric rates in order to raise revenue available to pay back Credits<\/li>\n
          • It\u2019s better to keep rates as low as possible and pay back Credits slowly but surely<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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            \n

             <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            What are Capital Credits How Capital Credits Work Infographic (PDF) In a perfect world, a not-for-profit business could write a budget on January 1st to cover all expenses and end the year with a profit of exactly zero. In the real world, we must always budget a bit more than projected costs because we can\u2019t […]\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":38569,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38587"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38587"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39630,"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38587\/revisions\/39630"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shznews.com.wjc7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"http:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}