Flint Energies to return nearly $5M in capital credits to 36,000 members

The cooperative says the refund benefits 24,400 current members with bill credits and 11,600 former members with mailed checks.

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Flint Energies is distributing $4.99 million in September to members who received electric service during 2003 and 2004. 

Approximately 36,000 current and former Flint Energies members will receive their share of the margin refunds, also known as capital credits. Vice President of Cooperative Communications Marian McLemore says Flint Energies is a non-profit electric cooperative, so they work at cost. 

“Any money we receive that is above the cost of us doing business, we take those funds, set them aside and then after a certain amount of time we return those to the members, to actually use the service during that time,” McLemore said.

McLemore says approximately 24,400 current members will receive a credit on their September bills. That is nearly 31% of Flint’s current membership. 

“And then those members who are no longer on our power lines, they will receive a check in the mail for their capital credits,” McLemore said.

She says this is beneficial for the members. 

“An electric cooperative is owned by the members that are served electricity, and so those members are benefiting from these capital credits because they’re getting returns on their investments in the cooperative,” she said.

She says this refund gives future members something to look forward to.

“After a certain amount of time, they too, will get their capital credit in the mail, or on their bill statement, so it gives them something to look forward to, that they get a refund of the money that they’ve paid towards their electric bill in a future date,” she said.

After this September’s refund, Flint Energies will have refunded nearly $90 million in margin refunds since its founding in 1937.

McLemore says bill credits save Flint members and their cooperative tens of thousands of dollars in check printing and postage costs, which can go toward future refunds.