Intercounty Electric Cooperative will retire
$1.5 million in capital credits in June, General Manager Dwayne
Cartwright has announced.
The refunds approved by the Board of Directors
will include 33% of the patronage capital for the year of 1995.
Current and former members who received electric service from the
cooperative during 1995 will be eligible for refunds. Checks were
mailed June 6. The value of the members’ capital credit checks or
equity is based on the volume and value of kilo-watt-hours each
member purchased during that calendar year.
During the strategic planning process, the
board adopted an equity management plan that set an equity range of
32-36 percent and established a schedule to return the investment
to the members. The financial plan is aimed at maintaining the
strength and stability of IECA. Each year, the plan is reviewed
based on the current financial conditions of your co-op and
economic outlook.
IECA’s equity management plan guides the board
in making decisions about rates and other issues that allow the
cooperative to generate adequate capital to fund growth and other
needs without retaining member funds longer than is necessary or in
amounts in excess of its needs.
Money to operate the cooperative comes from
two sources –– the amount members pay for service and loans. The
equity plan determines how much of the budget will be covered by
the rates members pay and how much will be covered by loans from
the Rural Utilities Service and the National Rural Utilities
Cooperative Finance Corporation. An equity management plan,
therefore, sets out guidelines whereby the Board balances debt and
equity effectively to meet a variety of financial needs and
criteria, including retiring capital credits- the members’ return
on their investment in IECA.
A cooperative’s equity level is, in fact, one
of the key indicators of financial health, and maintaining an
appropriate equity/member ownership level is a primary goal of the
plan.
IECA’s equity management plan takes into
account the need to ensure fairness across the generations of
members served by the co-op. This plan helps IECA manage debt,
equity, rates and capital credits, given the system’s rate of
growth, and existing and proposed capital structure.
To ensure refunds are received in future
years, members are urged to keep Intercounty informed of address
changes.Â
To view the online list of unclaimed checks from 2009 thatcovers capital credits earned in 1994, visit www.ieca.coop.