2020 Refund At-a-Glance
- Total returned this year: $9 million
- Customer-owners who had accounts in these years will get a refund: 1996, 1998, 2018, 2019
- When: Early December through early January
- How: Bill credit (less than $500) or check ($500 or more)
- All-time total capital credits refunded: $117 million
Walton EMC is returning $9 million in capital credits to its customer-owners this month. The 2020 refund brings the all-time total to $117 million since the company's inception in 1936.
Unlike investor-owned utilities, Walton EMC is a customer-owned electric cooperative that operates at cost. The company's board of directors approved the amount to return after reducing debt, saving for emergencies and investing in infrastructure, among other things.
Capital credits represent each customer-owner's stake in the cooperative. Refund amounts are calculated based on the total of energy bought during 1996, 1998, 2018 and/or 2019. The average 2020 refund is $68.38, which includes residential and commercial accounts.
Refund amounts below $500 are issued as a credit on customer-owners' accounts. A check will be mailed to customer-owners receiving a refund above $500, as well as former customer-owners who had accounts during the years targeted for the distribution. Walton EMC will issue 35,000 checks and 107,000 bill credits through December.
Walton EMC is an innovative, customer-owned and focused electric utility serving accounts in 10 Northeast Georgia counties between Atlanta and Athens. In its long history of meeting its customer-owners' needs, the cooperative established successful natural gas and security subsidiaries and nationally recognized residential consumer and commercial customer choice solar initiatives.
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