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05 TWENTY TWENTY FIVE
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Watch f or a Bill Credit or Check! Over $6 Million Coming to Members in May! Money is coming back to members in May, thanks to a capital credits retirement of over $6 million approved by your board of directors! Bill credits will appear on May bills for active members due under $100. Active members due $100 or more will be mailed checks on May 9 separately from their electric bill. Members new to the cooperative as of 2025 will be eligible for capital credit refunds beginning next year. Inactive members—those who moved out of the cooperative’s service area—who are due capital credit refunds will also be mailed a check in May. Over 94,000 active and inactive members will receive refunds. Capital credits are a unique benefit of being a member of a cooperative. A cooperative like Blue Ridge Energy doesn’t earn profits. Instead, revenues remaining after all expenses are paid each year are considered “margins.” Margins are allocated annually to members and reflect your member equity (ownership) in the cooperative. After being used for a period of years as capital to help finance reliability projects, these funds are returned to members. This process helps reduce the need for loans, which in turn, helps keep your electricity rates lower. It also helps maintain a healthy balance between debt and equity to ensure your cooperative’s financial health and stability. The percentage of equity to be retired and refunded to members is determined annually by your Board of Directors based on your cooperative’s financial condition. This year, that amount is 3%. Over the history of Blue Ridge Energy, more than $104 million has been returned to members.
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