Notice of capital credit allocation
 

New Hampsire Electric Cooperative.

Just received my NOTICE OF CAPITAL CREDIT ALLOCATION.

Letter states that I have a total of $20.10.

"The amount sown above will be added to your capital credit account. Capital credits cannot be applied to your energy bill or payment for any other services provided by your Cooperative."

Can anyone explain this in plain English?

Yes. It says in plain English: "We are a monopoly, we are crooks, and we are going to screw you every which way possible. We charge you $22.00 per month for a member fee, but when you call to complain that you have 3 meters and that you should only pay one member fee, we immediately tell you that it's not really a member fee, but rather it's a meter fee. Don't like it? Too bad because you can't go anywhere else!" There, I said it in plain English.

Not sure if this relates or not, check the FAQ's:

http://www.capitalelec.com/Member_Se...pital_Credits/

Ok, that was funny, sad but funny. I believe the company is a coop, meaning that as a customer, you are also an owner. That account is where they put your dividends, which they call your equity. Sounds like it is put in a place you can never touch and it is money you can never have. You do get a vote in who runs the show and you are allowed to go to the business meetings and raise hell if you want, within the rules of the meeting. There is probably methods for gathering enough signatures to call a meeting, or get an item on a meeting agenda for a vote.

You can find bylaws and rules here: http://www.nhec.coop/about.php


Section

2. Special

Meetings.

Special meetings of the members may be called by the Board of Directors. It shall be the duty of the Secretary
of the Board of Directors to call a special meeting of the
members within thirty (30) days upon receipt of a petition signed by not less than ten per centum (10%)
of the members stating the specificbusiness to be brought before the Cooperative. Upon call of a special
meeting by the Board of Directors, it shall be the duty of the secretary to cause notice of such meeting to
be given as hereinafter provided. Special meetings of the members may be held at any place within the
State of New Hampshire, specified in the notice of the special meeting.

Oh, and another thing (Press 1 for English): "Even though you have 3 meters and pay 3 member fees (correction, 3 METER FEES), you are only allowed one vote if all meters are in the same name. If you want to go to the trouble of deeding your property into a different name, then you can send us the deed and we will change the name on your account. Then you can have more votes. But, the votes don't matter anyway because whoever comes on our board of directors is just a puppet and has to do what we tell them to do. Kind of like a junior member of congress" Press the * key to end this call"

This Makes Sense To Me
 

I think these paragraphs from the link posted above tells the story.

How do capital credits work?

You need to know two things about capital credits in order to understand how they work for you:

1. Allocations: Each year, you are "allocated" your portion of the previous year's profit based on the amount of electricity you purchased from Capital Electric Cooperative (CEC) in relation to the total amount of electricity purchased by all members during the year. This amount is put into a "holding account" for a number of years and used by CEC to fund capital needs for items such as power line construction, transformers, trucks, inventory and other equipment. This is an underlying principle of the cooperative business model and is one more way we keep your electric rates as low as possible. This "allocation" becomes your equity in the cooperative and is maintained in a separate account assigned to you. View a sample allocation (PDF) statement online.

2. Retirement: This is what you will get in cash at a later date. CEC uses the amount "allocated" to you for a time, but then returns this amount to members in the form of "retirements," which are actual "cash back" dollars to you.


When are capital credits returned to members?

Per cooperative bylaws, your locally elected Board of Directors determines the amount of retirement (cash back) each year, based on the financial condition of the cooperative and other considerations. These payments are usually made in June in the form of checks, first available at CEC's annual meeting and mailed out shortly thereafter if not picked up at the annual meeting.

I've had an account with NEHC for over 15 years and not once have I ever received any kind of a check from them.