Victory Electric is a not-for-profit electric cooperative with members who share in the ownership, maintenance, construction and prosperity of the cooperative. A benefit of cooperative membership and ownership is the share in the earnings/margins Victory Electric earns each year.

Victory Electric’s rates are set to bring in enough money to pay operating costs, make payments on loans, and provide an emergency reserve. A cooperative does not earn profits; instead, when revenues exceed the expense of providing electric service it is considered “margins” and returned to you in the form of “capital credits.” Capital credits are the difference in operating costs and revenues and denote each member’s ownership of the cooperative. The margins represent a contribution of operating capital by the membership to the cooperative with the intent the capital will be retired (repaid) to you in later years.

Thank you for being a member of Victory Electric. This information is an effort to help our members better understand capital credits and explain how your investment in Victory Electric is one way the cooperative difference works for you. A print-friendly version is available for your convenience.

How Capital Credits Work

Sometimes when Victory Electric retires capital credits, the refund checks are returned as undeliverable and past members of the cooperative cannot be found. When this happens, these capital credits are placed in an Unclaimed Capital Credits account. Check the Unclaimed Capital Credits list below to see if you recognize any familiar names who have outstanding capital credits owed to them. If you find your name or someone you know on the list, please provide us with the name, new address, phone number, or contact information by completing the change of address form or by calling our office at 620-227-2139. If the person on the list is deceased and you are a successor of the estate, please review the Estate Capital Credit Retirement details and affidavit form.

Allocated capital credits are the member’s share of net margins and reflect your equity and ownership in Victory Electric. This money is set aside to be used as operating capital for improvements and maintenance over a period of years.

Retired capital credits are a portion of your total allocation and the amount a member receives as a refund. When capital credits are retired, your Victory Electric account is credited or a check is issued and your equity in the cooperative is reduced. Retirements can be years after the year in which the margins were earned/allocated. Until retirement, an allocation has no cash value and cannot be applied to your current electric bill.

Not necessarily. While capital credit allocations are made each year, the board of trustees must authorize a retirement before you receive a check. When considering a retirement, the board analyzes the financial health of the cooperative and can only authorize a retirement if Victory Electric’s financials meet USDA Rural Utilities Service equity level requirements.

The capital credits of a deceased member with a residential account may be paid without waiting for a general retirement. Article VII, Section 2 of Victory Electric's bylaws provides the board of trustees the power, upon the death of any member who is a natural person, to pay a deceased patron’s estate the net present value of his/her capital credit allocations accumulated up to the date of death. Patronage capital allocated to the cooperative by an affiliated wholesale power provider, and allocated to the cooperative members as a separate allocation, will not be retired by the cooperative until such capital is retired and paid by the wholesale provider. However, at the discretion of the board, a patron’s share of such allocated capital may be retired at the death of a patron at the net present value of the allocations.

However, these estate payments are not automatic. A representative of the estate must request the capital credits by completing the Retirement of Estate Capital Credit Affidavit form and providing the required documentation. In section 2 of the affidavit form, representatives of a decedent’s estate are required to choose to receive the deceased member's capital credits in the form of a present-value lump sum payout or to wait and receive the monies as they are retired as part of the normal, non-discounted retirement process of the cooperative. For the total dollar value of a decedent’s capital credits, both discounted and non-discounted amounts, the representative of the estate must contact the cooperative.

There is no early retirement of capital credits in the case of dissolution of a business, entity, corporation or partnership. To claim payment of future retired capital credits for a business or entity ceasing to exist or has been terminated or dissolved, complete SECTION 3, FORM D: Business or Entity Successorship of the Retirement of Estate Capital Credit Affidavit form.

The Retirement of Estate Capital Credits Affidavit can be emailed, mailed or delivered Victory Electric's office. Once Victory Electric received the affidavit form and all proper documentation proving ownership by the successors, the request for payment of a decedent’s capital credits will be considered for approval by the board of trustees at the next regularly scheduled meeting. Once approved, the check will be mailed to the executor, administrator, or the listed heirs. *Note: Victory Electric cannot assist with obtaining any required documents.

For additional information or questions on estate capital credit retirements, please call Victory Electric at 620-227-2139.

It is important for those Victory Electric members who are leaving or who have already left the cooperative service area provide us with an updated mailing address to ensure future capital credit refunds can be returned as they are retired. If Victory Electric does not have a current address on file, a capital credit check will not be issued. If you think you may be a former member without a current address on file, please contact our office to arrange for your capital credits payment to be issued. Address updates will be processed pending match of social security or federal ID number.

Address Change Form

If you are receiving electric service with someone else’s membership or the service is in the name of a deceased person, you will not receive capital credits. Capital credits are non-transferrable and any current or future capital credit retirements will be issued in the name of the person on the membership or the estate of a deceased member. To ensure any capital credits are allocated/retired to you, you must open an account in your name.

Notice:

What are Capital Credits?

How Capital Credits Work

Notice:

Do We Owe You Money?

How do you determine how much in capital credits I receive?

What’s the difference between allocated and retired capital credits?

How do I start accumulating capital credits?

Will I receive a capital credit check every year?

What happens to my capital credits when I leave the Victory Electric service area?

What capital credits are not?

What happens to the capital credits of a member who dies? Details of Estate Capital Credit Retirements

Change of Address

Unclaimed Capital Credits