Central Electric Cooperative announced today that 12,728 current and former members are eligible to receive capital credits payments totaling $2,268,164. CEC will mail members their checks this week.
Individual checks will average $127.00 and will be paid to current and former CEC members who purchased power in the years 1997 and 1998. The amount of each member’s check is based on the amount of electricity purchased by that member in each of those two years. The payments total slightly over $1.6 million. Most of the difference between the $2.2 million capital credit retirement and the payment total is funds due members but for whom CEC does not have a current address on file. The cooperative advertises their names in The Bulletin one time each June, July, August and September and lists those members on its website in an effort to reach them. Central Electric has made such payments every year since 2001 and in 34 of the past 38 years, totaling $28.9 million in retirements since 1958.
As a not-for-profit utility, Central Electric is limited to two options for raising capital, borrowing or raising capital from its members. By melding capital credits funding obtained from members with borrowed money on which CEC must pay interest, the cooperative is able to lower its cost of capital. A benefit of cooperative membership is that they share in the margins that the cooperative earns annually. Members may receive annual refunds under the cooperative’s bylaws, which authorize the board of directors of Central Electric to pay capital credits to members whenever the financial condition of the utility is not impaired by such payments.
Central Electric Cooperative is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative that has provided electric utility services to its members in central Oregon since 1941. At the close of 2018, CEC served 34,508 accounts held by 26,690 members in its 5,300 square-mile service territory in Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson and parts of Lake, Linn, Wasco and Grant counties. CEC’s electrical system includes 24 substations and 3,957 miles of energized power lines, including 187 miles of transmission line, 2,264 miles of overhead distribution line and 1,506 miles of underground distribution line.
