Electric cooperative to return $1 million in margins

Approximately $1 million in capital credits will be returned to Three Rivers Electric Cooperative members in July.

The cooperative's board of directors voted at its April board meeting to retire $1 million. Capital credits, also known as margins, are to a cooperative what profits are to a business.

The cooperative philosophy with regard to capital credits takes the form of an agreement between the cooperative and its members.

As with any business, the cooperative needs equity capital. It is the member who agrees to provide this equity capital through the rates the member pays for electricity. The cooperative uses this equity to help finance new construction and improvements to the system and, at some future date, the cooperative returns the equity back to its members.

The amount of the capital credits each member receives is based on each member's electric usage. In other words, the more kilowatt hours a member uses, the higher their capital credits check will be.