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.
The amount of capital credits you earn in a given year is based upon the cooperative's yearly margins in relation to the amount of capital you contribute through payment of your electric bills.
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.
No special action is required to earn capital credits. Your cooperative membership, which starts when you establish electric service in your name, activates your capital credit account.
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.
They remain on the books in the members’ name until the board authorizes a retirement. When moving, you should always provide an updated and current address.
Capital credits should not be confused with profits, which are a return on capital. Retirement of capital credits is a return of member-furnished capital. Electric cooperatives exist not to make a profit, but to provide low-cost electricity.
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.
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.