Do we have your missing money?
South Central Power Company is attempting to locate former patrons who are eligible for the general retirement of 1999 capital credits.
Capital credits are among the factors that differentiate electric cooperatives from investor-owned utilities. They represent each patron’s economic share of the co-op and are a direct benefit of membership in South Central Power.
As a not-for-profit cooperative, South Central Power annually allocates to electric patrons any income that remains after expenses are paid. The allocation is applied to each patron’s capital credits account and is based on the amount of electricity purchased during a particular year.
South Central Power refunds capital credits to those who have earned them through their annual patronage in two situations: 1) to estates of deceased patrons, and 2) to patrons through general retirements. Allocated capital credits are returned, or retired, after 20 years to patrons, provided the co-op’s financial position is not jeopardized. During those 20 years, the cooperative uses the capital credits funds as operating capital. South Central Power’s board of trustees must approve all capital credits payments.
The cooperative’s Code of Regulations also provides for the reallocation of capital credits. Patrons are granted a period of four years plus a 60-day public notice period to claim the capital credits assigned to them under the general retirement program. At the end of that time, unclaimed capital credits are reallocated to the cooperative, which then allocates these dollars to current members.
South Central Power has prepared a list of names and addresses for patrons with capital credits from 1999. Please review it on our website. If you know individuals or business owners whose names appear on this list, ask them to notify the cooperative with their current address. The cooperative can then inform them of their capital credits account status.
Additionally, if you find the name of a former South Central Power patron who is now deceased on this list, please ask the executor of the estate to contact the co-op.
This list is published on the South Central Power website during August and September, and a notice is printed in Ohio Cooperative Living during that 60-day time frame. If South Central Power does not receive a response within 60 days after the notice is published, the capital credits remaining will be reallocated.
Anyone listed in the notice should contact South Central Power.
From the August and September 2024 issues of Ohio Cooperative Living.