03 Mar
As a member of CORE Electric Cooperative, you enjoy unique, exclusive advantages that people served by investor-owned and municipal utilities do not:
Ownership & A Vote
As owners of our not-for-profit cooperative, you and other members have a say in how we operate. Members within each district elect a fellow member to serve a four-year term on our Board of Directors and represent their interests in CORE business and policies. Information about this year’s elections is available on our Director Elections webpage.
Capital Credits
Unlike investor-owned utilities that give their profits to shareholders, we return our profits (or margins) to members in the form of capital credits. In the last 10 years, we have returned more than $120 million to members. How capital credits work:
1. Our annual net margin is allocated to members we served that year. Your allocations build over your time as a CORE member. If you end service with CORE, your allocation bucket no longer grows, but is not deleted.
2. CORE’s Board of Directors evaluates the cooperative’s financial obligations to determine if we can retire (or return) a portion of the funds allocated to members. The portion not retired is used for system improvements, maintenance and keeping the cooperative running.
3. Once retirement is approved, portions of both current and former members’ shares are refunded to them. Most members receive their capital credits as a credit on their bill. Checks are sent to former members, and to current members who have opted out of bill credits.
Important: If you move out of CORE’s service area, let us know. We will send any future capital credit retirements to your new mailing address. Ownership of capital credits belonging to a member who has passed can be transferred to a legally designated representative. Please contact us to start the transfer process.
Joint Membership
A married account holder has the option of establishing a joint membership with their spouse, in which all capital credit allocations for the membership are owned jointly by both parties.
Joint memberships dissolve upon a change in marital status, such as divorce or the passing of one party. Changes to joint memberships can be initiated by contacting CORE. Additional information is available on our Capital Credits webpage.