Kootenai Electric Cooperative

Capital credits are unique to cooperative utilities like Kootenai Electric Cooperative. Private power companies make profits and pay dividends to stockholders. Cooperatives, on the other hand, work on a nonprofit basis and allocate its operating income back to their members.

Capital credits represent your share of the Cooperative's operating income (operating revenue remaining after operating expenses). The amount earmarked in your name depends on your energy purchases. To calculate this, we divide your annual energy purchase by the Cooperative's operating income for the year. The more electricity you buy, the more capital credits you earn.

Capital credits are not dollars in a bank somewhere. Capital credits represent funds that have been invested in the Cooperative's utility plant. The Board of Directors decides when the Cooperative is financially able to pay prior years' capital credit allocations.

Unclaimed Capital Credits
In 1999 the KEC Board of Directors declared that capital credits allocated to members in 1977 and 1978 be retired. Checks were issued in payment, but in some cases delivery was unsuccessful. In August 2006, the Board declared these unclaimed capital credits as abandoned. They are still payable, however, to the rightful owner. Any person possessing an interest in these unclaimed capital credits may obtain information concerning them from the Cooperative at 208.765.1200. A link to a list of those to whom capital credits are payable but unclaimed is provided below. All claims for payment should be directed to the Cooperative and made on a form which may be downloaded from the link provided below.