\

For immediate release:
8:00 a.m. – Thursday, March 25, 2021

More than $77,000 in unclaimed capital credits from San Isabel Electric is waiting to be claimed by their rightful owners.

Some people who buy electricity from San Isabel Electric may not realize that they are member-owners of San Isabel Electric, not utility customers. Being a member-owner comes with some great perks, like capital credits.

Capital credits are money back, based on how much electricity is purchased by the member-owner. Most utilities pocket left over money as profit when revenues are more than expenses. Electric co-ops set aside that money for members as capital credits, based on the amount of energy each member purchases. When it’s financially safe to do so, the co-op retires or returns the money to members. Members receive their share as a check right in their mailbox.

In April 2020, members who were electric co-op members in 2019 received capital credits checks in the mail, reflecting their ownership of the cooperative during that year. More than 19,000 capital credit checks were mailed to San Isabel Electric members, returning $591,000 in capital credits to the co-op’s membership. Several of those checks that were mailed in 2020 were never cashed.

Following state law for unclaimed property, every April, the electric co-op publishes a list of unclaimed capital credits in the April 1 edition of the Pueblo Chieftain, the April issue of Colorado Country Life Magazine, and at SIEA.com/CapitalCredits in an attempt to return the cash to its rightful owners.

If your name appears on one of these lists, please email capitalcredits@wordpress-666784-2187745.cloudwaysapps.com or call the co-op during business hours at 800-279-SIEA (7432) and ask for the Capital Credits Department. Proof of identity is required to claim unclaimed capital credits.

A full list of members with capital credits in their name will be published on the co-op’s website, siea.com/capitalcredits, by June 1.

If a member-owner has not claimed their unclaimed capital credit after three years, the co-op uses the money to fund scholarship programs and area service efforts, approved by the Board of Directors, supporting hospitals, fire stations, county fairs, school programs, local chambers of commerce and more.

Unlike investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives are exempt from writing off any money that is returned to the community as a tax write off.

Members are encouraged to leave forwarding addresses with San Isabel Electric should they move off the system. In the case of a member’s death, a representative of the estate should contact San Isabel Electric to determine the status of the member’s capital credit checks, both now and in the future.

###

As a not-for-profit cooperative utility, San Isabel Electric provides affordable, reliable electricity with exceptional service to communities throughout southern Colorado. Serving nearly 20,000 Member-owners and 24,000 meters, San Isabel Electric has been keeping the lights on since 1938. We don’t just serve communities. We are part of communities.