Capital credits represent a member's share of the cooperative's margins during the time they have a membership. No special action is required to start a capital credit account. The membership with Medina EC activates the automatic calculation of the credit.

The amount of capital credits earned by any given member in a year is based on the amount of the member's monthly electric bill.

The amount of the capital credit depends on the amount of the member's monthly bill, minus the total cost of power required to deliver the power and energy to the member during that time frame. It also depends on the success of the cooperative. The board of directors review the cooperative's financial stability annually and decides when to retire capital credits.

Allocated capital credits appear as an entry on the permanent financial records of the cooperative and reflect a member's equity in Medina EC. When the board of directors approve to retire capital credits, that money is given back to those who were members during the time frame being retired.

Members get an allocation statement in the mail each May or June which shows them the capital credits allocated to them from the prior year. That statement lists allocations from Medina EC and STEC/SMEC, the wholesale generation and transmission cooperatives that Medina EC purchases power from. STEC/SMEC capital credits are managed by their board, and decisions on retirements of those capital credits are not made by the Medina EC board.

Current Members: If you're a current member and received electricity during the time period being retired, you'll see a credit on your bill. It will be a line item for "Capital Credit Retirement" and is automatically deducted from your total balance on the bill.

Former Members: If you received electricity during the period being retired and are no longer an active member, you will be mailed a check if the amount is more than $5. Inactive accounts with distributions of less than $5 will rollover to future years and a check will be issued once the minimum amount is reached.

A member who terminates service no longer receives capital credit allocations. The balance in the member's capital credit account is maintained until the cooperative begins retirements that affect that account. Payments are often made around 20 years after they are earned, so it is important to make sure Medina EC always has an updated mailing address. You can also choose to donate future capital credit retirements to charity. Contact our office if you are interested in that option.

If a member passes away, their estate does have the option of settling their capital credits early (Estate Retirement) or waiting for retirements of their allocated capital credits (Standard Retirement). Read about the options here.

Yes! Your retired capital credits can be donated to either Medina EC's Operation Round Up fund or the Scholarship fund. Complete the Capital Credit Donation Form below and send it to Info@MedinaEC.org to authorize the donation.

Capital Credit Donation Form