The Cooperative Way: Giving Back $420,967 to our Members

Living out our cooperative principles is what sets Wharton County Electric Cooperative apart from other utility providers. 

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, we believe in giving credit where credit is due—to the members who shape our co-op. One way we achieve this is through capital credits. Because WCEC operates at cost, we give cash back to our members rather than outside investors or shareholders. 

Here’s how capital credits work:

WCEC members use the electricity we provide and pay their monthly bills, and we track these transactions over time. 

WCEC pays all operating expenses throughout the year, and money remaining after the bills are paid is known as margins (it is the margin between income and expenses). 

This money is used for capital expenditures, such as building or replacing lines, and is not paid back immediately. This becomes your investment or equity in the company. 

In a for-profit company, this money would be called profit. In a cooperative, we call it capital credits because this money belongs to you not to the cooperative. To be a true not-for-profit cooperative, this money is returned to you as a patronage refund.

We keep track of capital credits in a special account. This money is eventually refunded to you, your surviving spouse or your estate. The amount of capital credits allocated to your account is in proportion to the dollar amount of electricity you used. In other words, if you paid for 1 percent of the power we sold, you would receive a 1 percent share of the margins left over at the end of that given year into your capital credit account.

When financial conditions permit, the co-op’s board of directors votes to pay capital credits back to the members. WCEC then applies a credit to your energy bill. 

At the August 26, 2025 meeting of the WCEC Board of Directors, your elected representatives approved refunding $420,967 in capital credits for the years 2021 through 2024. 

Bill credits for current, eligible members will appear under Current Service Detail on WCEC bills received on or about October 1, 2025.  Former WCEC members will be mailed a check to the last known address on file. 

If you have any questions about capital credits or this year’s patronage refund, please call our office at (979) 543-6271.