Flint Energies will distribute $4.79 million in September to those consumer-members who received electric service in 1994 and 1995. Approximately 31,000 current and former Flint Energies consumer-members will receive their share of the total in margin refunds, also known as capital credits.
 
More than 18,000 current consumer-members of the Cooperative will receive a credit on their September bill. That’s approximately 26 percent of Flint’s current membership. Bill credits save consumer-members and their cooperative tens of thousands of dollars in check printing and postage costs, which can go toward future refunds.
 
More than 12,500 consumers who are no longer Flint members will receive their checks after September 15. If the check would be written for less than $5, the credit will carry over to the next refund.
 
If someone receives electric service from a cooperative like Flint Energies, he/she owns the company along with everyone else that receives service. As a cooperative business, it is self-defeating to make a profit. Rather than earning profits from monthly payments, after paying off debts and establishing a reserve for unexpected events, Flint returns the excess revenue to its consumer-members. These funds are called capital credits. Each year, the Flint Energies Board of Directors determines what portion of capital credits can be retired or returned to the membership. Capital credits are only returned if it is financially prudent to do so.
 
Each member is assigned capital credits based on the electricity purchased during the year. This invested amount represents the value of a member’s ownership in the cooperative. Flint Energies uses the “first in, first out” (FIFO) method of retiring capital credits, refunding to members whose capital has been invested for the longest time in the cooperative.
 
“Our business is different from an investor-owned utility. Our primary focus is service, not profits,” says Marian McLemore, Vice President of Cooperative Communications. “Flint Energies has refunded more than $60 million in capital credits from our beginning in 1937 through 1995 to our members.”