This holiday season, member-owners of North Western Electric Cooperative received one of the benefits of being part of a cooperative. NWEC distributed $611,249 to current and former member-owners in the form of capital credits.

On the bill received in November (due December 10), eligible members-owners should see a credit for 20% of their allocation from 2021 along with any unretired capital credits from 2002. Those who were member-owners during either or both of those years got a return on their ownership.

Capital credits represent the cooperative’s margins. We use the margins to fund capital improvements to keep our service reliable. Unused margins are then returned to member-owners as capital credits. It represents each co-op member’s ownership in their cooperative.

The cooperative business model is the only one that ever pays margins back to (and only to) its member-owners. That is the co-op difference that sets NWEC apart from others in the power utilities world.

Have questions about capital credits? Learn more online at https://nwec.com/capital-credits or call our office at 419-636-5051.