[Senter Cove Guy]

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.