Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation (Sawnee EMC) announced that it is preparing to return approximately $6 million in patronage capital refunds to over 137,500 current and former members.
According to the company, this refund applies to individuals and businesses who received electric service from Sawnee EMC during 2008 and/or 2009.
As a not-for-profit cooperative, Sawnee EMC annually assigns / allocates patronage capital to its members of record. Each assignment is based on the amount of revenue they provided the Cooperative through their electric bill during a particular year.
Patronage capital is defined in Sawnee EMC’s Bylaws as an “allocation of the revenue in excess of operating costs and expenses” and is required by Georgia law. Sawnee EMC’s Board of Directors regularly considers the retirement of patronage capital to its members for certain periods. The Board approves a retirement after it determines that doing so will not impair Sawnee EMC’s overall financial position…