RBC | It looks as though the “cooperative difference” is alive and well at Moon Lake Electric. One of the important differences between cooperatives and investor-owned utilities is ownership in the company. Because Moon Lake Electric is member-owned, excess margins earned by the cooperative are paid back to the members in the form of patronage capital.
Grant J. Earl, General Manager/CEO of Moon Lake, stated, “We are very happy to report that the Board of Directors has approved a $2 million patronage refund this year, and our members will be seeing the credit on their monthly bill during the May billing cycles.” By crediting members’ electric accounts rather than issuing checks, Moon Lake is able to save thousands of dollars in check handling and mailing costs. The issuance of patronage refunds is based on a percentage of the member’s previous years’ power usage.
Remarkably, Moon Lake has returned more than $38,000,000 to its members in patronage refunds since 1977. “Our members are receiving patronage refunds at the same time customers of other power companies are seeing rate increases,” Earl said.
Special to the Herald Times
