Ownership
- Capital Credits represent your ownership in the Cooperative
- Coosa Valley Electric Cooperative is owned by its consumers
You, and all of the other business and residential consumers of the Cooperative, own the poles, lines and facilities that deliver electricity to you. As an owner, you receive many benefits not available to other utility customers.
- One of those benefits is that any margins, the money remaining after the year’s expenses are paid, are assigned to you, our consumers, in the form of capital credits.
- The amount of capital credits allocated to your patronage account each year depends on how much of a margin the cooperative ended the year with and how much electricity you consumed during that same year.
Capital Credits from 1939 to 1995
Coosa Valley Electric is issuing payments for patronage earned during the years of 1939 to 1995.
- If you were a consumer during those years or you are the heir at law or legatee of an individual who was a consumer during those years, then you may be able to collect the capital credits allocated for those years.
- Lists of consumers to whom payments have been issued are available through the links on the right hand side of this page.
Claiming Capital Credits
Your Cooperative employees have put a great deal of effort into ensuring all capital credits for every consumer who has done business with CVEC have been properly accounted for and allocated.
- Those intending to claim a payment must first find in the lists shown in the upper right hand of the page their name or the name of the individual on behalf of whom they intend to file.
- Claimants will be required to show proof of their identity and their right to claim. An Affidavit for Right to Claim (PDF) must be completed and other information provided to complete a claim. Guidelines for the process can be found below.
Relevant Capital Credit Links
Capital Credit FAQ’s
- Capital credits are each consumer’s share of the margins
- The total of capital credits assigned to each consumer represents the value of their ownership in the Cooperative
- Margins are the amount of money left over after all expenses are paid from the revenue earned by the Cooperative during the year.
- Years during which the cooperative earned higher margins, the amount of capital credits allocated to each member will be higher.
- Capital credits are allocated based on how much electric energy (kilowatt-hours) a consumer uses
- A person who uses more electricity will earn more capital credits
- Per Cooperative Bylaws, the Board of Trustees determines how many years and how much of the capital credits will be paid out or retired for each year.
- If you just received a notice regarding your capital credits, that notice covers patronage capital earned during the last calendar year. Right now, the Cooperative is not able to retire those amounts.
- The Bylaws require that patronage be retired on a first-in, first-out basis. (Those who first earned capital credits must be paid first)
- The first year the Cooperative earned a margin was 1947, so we have started with that year and will work our way toward present day as resources allow.
For individuals, capital credits are generally not taxable. We suggest you seek the advice of a tax professional for any specific questions.
- The member should inform our office of any changes in his or her mailing address.
- It is a member’s responsibility to make sure the cooperative has up-to-date address information at all times.
- CVEC can be contacted by phone, fax, or email to update an address.
If we determine you are or have been a member and you consumed electric service from CVEC, capital credits will be issued to you for the years that the cooperative has already issued capital credit payments.
- To claim capital credits issued to you simply bring valid, state-issued photo identification to the Coosa Valley Electric Cooperative office
- The cooperative will not issue capital credit payments early
- Payments will only be issued to individuals whose name is associated with the member number on the patronage capital account
If the membership is a joint membership, the surviving member must provide a copy of the death certificate of the deceased individual. Upon notification of the death of a member of a joint membership, the:
- Cooperative will remove the name of the deceased person from the account records.
- Membership, and any allocated patronage capital, is then held solely by the surviving spouse.
Capital credits of deceased members where there is no surviving member of a joint membership may be claimed by individuals who can show proof that they are the heir at law or legatee of a deceased member. To obtain the capital credits belonging to a member who has died, please provide the following documents:
- Death certificate – Certified copy or good-quality photocopy of certified copy
- Form of valid, state-issued photo identification
- Completed and notarized Affidavit for Right to Claim
Upon receipt of acceptable documentation, CVEC:
- Shall issue payment for those years that the cooperative has already issued capital credit payments
- Payments will be issued only in the deceased member’s name
- Capital credits for a deceased members’ estate will be paid only for the years which the cooperative has already issued payments.
- Will not retire any capital credits early
- Each member has a separate patronage capital account, which represents the member’s ownership in the Cooperative.
- When capital credits are allocated at the end of a year, all members who received electric service during that year will receive an allocation notice showing that year’s allocation.
- The total balance of your capital credits can be made available upon request from Coosa Valley Electric’s customer service or billing departments provided cooperative employees can establish a consumer’s identity as it relates to all capital credit allocations for each year of service a consumer claims.
- Members with multiple accounts for different locations will receive a consolidated capital credit allocation statement whenever possible, grouped under a single membership number.
- CVEC’s customer information system consolidates allocated capital credits for multiple accounts by member number for ease of tracking and payment.
Disclaimer: CVEC reserves the right to require additional information and/or documentation to verify to the satisfaction of CVEC management the legitimacy of any claim for capital credits.