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LPEA customers to get refunds

Credits will appear in next month’s billing cycle

Some La Plata Electric Association members will see refunds in next month’s billing cycle as the cooperative retires $3.85 million in capital credits.

LPEA, a nonprofit co-op, refunds these credits to its members each year. The board of directors approved the sum this week, and members will see a credit on bills or, if more than $100, mailed as checks.

“Capital credits represent our members’ investment in La Plata Electric Association,” CEO Mike Dreyspring said in a statement. “As part of that tax designation, which establishes us as a cooperative, we are required to allocate margins in the form of capital credits to our members as annually determined by our board of directors. Refunding capital credits to our members is one of the many things that make electric cooperatives unique.”

Every year, when members’ electricity payments exceed the cost to provide the service, each member’s excess is placed in individual patronage capital accounts. Those funds as well as borrowed bonds finance improvements to the cooperative’s infrastructure. A percentage of what’s left is returned to members.

“It helps build members’ equity and reduces the amount of money LPEA has to borrow – so it reduces interest charges we’d have to otherwise pay,” chief financial officer Dennis Svanes said in a statement. “The margins allow LPEA to maintain system reliability at its highest level and help keep rates lower.”

This year, LPEA is returning $1.4 million in capital credits earned in 1994 and 1995 and an additional $1.4 million on a percentage basis from years 1995 through 2015.

Members with an LPEA account in 2015 or before will receive refunds in proportion to their contribution to LPEA’s marginal revenue.

Refunds will be received in the Nov. 8 through Dec. 6 billing period.

LPEA also will reallocate an additional $1 million in retired capital credits from its wholesale provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, of which LPEA is a member. These refunds will go to businesses and residents that have been LPEA members since 1994.

Some past members who have moved out of the service area are eligible to receive retired capital credits from previous years. They’re asked to report their new addresses so they can receive their credits.

The cooperative has refunded nearly $60 million to members since incorporation in 1939.



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