For the year ending Dec. 31, 2022, Tideland EMC issued credits to both current and former members of the cooperative totaling $2,375,898. The source of those credits is threefold:

• Wholesale power cost adjustment (WPCA) credits
• Capital credit refunds to the estates of deceased members
• General retirement of capital credits to members who had service with the cooperative in the years 1991 and/or 1993.

Tideland has been issuing a monthly WPCA credit since March 2020. In 2022, the average monthly credit was -0.2631¢ per kilowatt hour sold, ranging from a high of -0.527¢ in August to a low of -0.135¢ in June. The WPCA, which can also be a charge in times of higher-than-expected energy costs, appears as a line item on your monthly electric bill.

When combined with 2022 capital credit refunds to estates, totaling $614,000, and the December general retirement of $816,911, credits for 2022 totaled $2.375 million.

There is perhaps no better illustration of the co-op’s member owned business model than these financial transactions.

I do want to circle back around to the topic of capital credit refunds to the estates of deceased members. The loss of a loved one is a difficult time. Many are unlikely to even think about their loved one’s cooperative membership beyond transferring the electric service into another name. In fact, it often only comes to the attention of a surviving family member when we mail a general retirement capital credit check to the deceased member.

We have a process in place to settle the balance of the deceased member’s ownership equity. That process begins with the submission of a capital credit claim form along with a copy of the deceased member’s death certificate. If no executor exists, the check is made payable to the clerk of court who will handle the disbursement of funds.

The claim form can be found on our website.

Likewise, I would encourage you to keep the co-op abreast of any future address changes should you move off our system. Capital credit refund checks are mailed to the last known address that we have on file. When checks are returned as undeliverable to the co-op, we must escheat those funds to the North Carolina State Treasurer’s office where they can be found through that agency’s unclaimed refunds website.