We often hear concerns about utilities being profit-driven. Our neighbors served by investor-owned utilities continue to have rate increases. They see new charges to help pay for large projects that do not benefit them. Your utility is different. Your utility is a cooperative.

Our focus is not on generating profits. We don't have shareholders looking to make as much money as possible or recover costs for large projects. We have members who trust us to provide safe and reliable energy now and in the future. As a not-for-profit organization, we use revenue to cover expenses and reinvest in our system. The goal is not to make 'extra profits'. When we do, our Board of Directors determines if we can return it to our members as capital credit retirements.

We could not do this for many years because The Energy Cooperative's equity position was not high enough to return money to members. Fortunately, a few years ago, we reached a positive equity level high enough to give money back.