Did you know that Piedmont Electric is a not-for-profit electric utility? That means we only collect enough revenue to cover our costs. When we collect more than we need to operate, we return the extra money back to our members as capital credits. Since 1975, Piedmont Electric has returned more than $21.3 million in capital credits. That’s a lot of money returned to our members!
The Journey of a Dollar
Before being returned to members, our excess revenue is reinvested back into the system. This creates even more savings for Piedmont Electric members because these funds are used to reduce the amount of money the the cooperative has to borrow to maintain and improve our system. These funds help us:
- Keep rates low
- Update and repair equipment
- Provide energy-saving programs
- Respond to emergency situations
While Piedmont Electric invests excess revenue from past years back into the co-op, each year we also return capital credits to members from a previous year, or years, in proportion to the amount of energy each member used during those years. If you do not receive a capital credit, it means we retired funds to a year in which you were not yet a member of Piedmont Electric. For the past 40 years, Piedmont Electric has returned capital credits to our members!
Capital credits, another example of the Cooperative Difference.