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Local nonprofits getting thousands from LPEA

You, too, may be receiving credit in Aug.

Four nonprofits in La Plata and Archuleta counties are the recipients of the 2014 distribution of unclaimed money from inactive La Plata Electric Association accounts.

The reimbursements come from the unused “margin,” the extra money the cooperative charges on monthly bills to make sure it has money for emergencies.

This year, the unclaimed-fund list contained 8,053 names, about 25 percent of LPEA meters. The cooperative has 31,000 members, but 40,000 meters; some members have more than one account. The total of unclaimed accounts for distribution this year was $33,656.

LPEA customers with active accounts will find a credit on their bill in August.

The beneficiaries this year:

Manna Soup Kitchen, $10,000, for its capital campaign to build a center for its Culinary Arts Training Program.

Durango Adult Education Center, $8,656, for technology upgrades at its facility.

Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resources Center, $5,000, for program support.

Pagosa Medical Center, $10,000, to help buy a four-wheel-drive ambulance for Archuleta County.

Inactive accounts belong to people who move or die or companies that have gone out of business. LPEA officials say many people who are owed money are college students who graduated and left town.

Former LPEA customers have three years to claim what is known as capital credits. So the money distributed this year went unclaimed in 2011.

Since 1939, LPEA capital-credit refunds have totaled more than $35 million.

Unclaimed capital credits has had a twisted history, LPEA said. The state took the money in the early years, but the law changed to give electric cooperatives the right to distribute the leftover funds as scholarships.

Another change in the law allowed the cooperatives to decide how to use the funds.

Among major recipients have been Mercy Regional Medical Center ($250,000 over five years), Durango Public Library ($45,000), Fort Lewis College ($100,000 over four years), Pagosa Community Hospital ($80,000 over four years) and the Four Corners Office for Resource Efficiency ($180,000 over five years).

Since 2012, LPEA has given two four-year college scholarships and two two-year community college scholarships.

daler@durangoherald.com



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