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ATTICA – Approximately 12,350 former and current members of North Central Electric Cooperative will receive patronage capital credit refunds early this month.

At its November meeting, the North Central Board of Trustees approved a patronage capital credit refund of $690,385, marking the 36th consecutive year the cooperative has retired capital credits to current and former members. Since 1980, the cooperative has refunded more than $18.2 million in capital credits.

The majority of refunds are issued as credits on members’ bills rather than issued as checks. Bills will be mailed or e-mailed to members Dec. 1.

For former members and cooperative members whose refund total is $100 or more, a check will be mailed Dec. 1.

Duane Frankart“We’re proud to be able to issue patronage capital credit refunds,” said President Duane Frankart. “It speaks so highly of the cooperative business model. We’re a not-for-profit electric cooperative. Our rates are more than competitive. The 24 Ohio electric cooperatives, including North Central, have invested more than $1 billion in environmental controls at our coal plants and they meet or exceed current EPA emission standards. We have a strong system maintenance program and our outage statistics are historically low. It makes our business model special and positively reflects on the cooperative’s financial strength and stability.”

Frankart explained members provide the necessary capital for the cooperative to operate, maintain and expand its system. The cooperative retains allocated capital credits as working capital for new construction, equipment and system improvements throughout its service area. Otherwise, rates would have to be raised significantly to pay for infrastructure improvements. If financial conditions permit, the North Central Board of Trustees decides each year whether to retire a set amount of capital credits.

North Central serves approximately 9,650 consumers-owners and maintains 1,786 miles of line in Seneca, Crawford and Wyandot counties, plus portions of Huron, Richland, Sandusky, Hancock and Wood counties.

Capital Credit Refunds
Pre-2008: $12,711,501
2008: $653,947
2009: $761,810
2010: $746,423
2011: $707,530
2012: $578,667
2013: $725,119
2014: $689,373
2015: $690,385
Total: $18,264,755