Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative Refunds Capital Credits

On April 22, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative mailed out checks totaling $1,000,000 to those who received service from the utility in 1986. Capital credits are the cooperative’s remaining margins after all expenses for a given year of operation have been paid. Each Blue Ridge capital-credit payment is based on the individual member’s pro-rata share of patronage for the year covered by the refund.

With this payment, the cooperative has returned capital credits in each of the last 31 years. Through 2013, Blue Ridge has refunded more than $21 million to its members.

"Refunding capital credits on a regular schedule has been a longtime practice,” said Charles Dalton, Blue Ridge president and CEO. "The cooperative is a member-owned organization, and these systematic payments are a key aspect of our business model. Both our board of directors and our management team believe very strongly in fulfilling this obligation to our members and in doing so on a consistent basis.”

Blue Ridge serves 63,600 members within a five-county region of upstate South Carolina.