Membership MATTERS
Watch
for a Bill Credit or Check!
Over $6 Million Coming to Members in May!
Money is coming back to members in May, thanks to a capital credits retirement of over $6 million approved by your board of directors!
Bill credits will appear on May bills for active members due under $100. Active members due $100 or more will be mailed checks on May 9 separately from their electric bill. Members new to the cooperative as of 2025 will be eligible for capital credit refunds beginning next year. Inactive members—those who moved out of the cooperative’s service area—who are due capital credit refunds will also be mailed a check in May. Over 94,000 active and inactive members will receive refunds.
Capital credits are a unique benefit of being a member of a cooperative. A cooperative like Blue Ridge Energy doesn’t earn profits. Instead, revenues remaining after all expenses are paid each year are considered “margins.” Margins are allocated annually to members and reflect your member equity (ownership) in the cooperative. After being used for a period of years as capital to help finance reliability projects, these funds are returned to members.
This process helps reduce the need for loans, which in turn, helps keep your electricity rates lower. It also helps maintain a healthy balance between debt and equity to ensure your cooperative’s financial health and stability.
The percentage of equity to be retired and refunded to members is determined annually by your Board of Directors based on your cooperative’s financial condition. This year, that amount is 3%.
Over the history of Blue Ridge Energy, more than $104 million has been returned to members.
It Pays To Be A Member
Returning money back to members in the form of capital credits is part of the advantage of being served by a cooperative!
We hope you agree that it provides value to you as a member of Blue Ridge Energy.
This year, members will receive over $6 million in capital credit refunds as approved by your Board of Directors. These funds go to active members, estates and former members. You can find details about the checks and bill credits we’re issuing in May in this newsletter.
The name “capital credits” may sound complex but it’s a simple concept. Until they’re returned to members, capital credits are funds used as operating capital to invest in power lines, substations and other electric system assets that provide you with reliable electricity. Capital credits are the annual margins — revenues minus expenses of the cooperative — which are allocated to each member based on your individual usage and purchase of electricity. After using the money for a period of years to finance investment in electric facilities, it is returned to members over time.
From Blue Ridge Energy CEO Katie Woodle
To ensure your return of capital credits and the fiscal health of your cooperative, your Board of Directors has approved an equity management plan. The plan uses an industry-best standard goal of 40% of assets for member equity. It includes a schedule for the regular return of member equity in the form of capital credits. Our members achieved this equity goal at the end of 2024 with $206 million in equity and $523 million in total assets. This year’s return of capital is three percent of member equity.
The equity plan also determines how much of the cooperative’s investment in electric sys tem assets will be covered through member capital and how much will be covered by long-term debt. Our goal is to balance member capital (equity) and debt in order to provide the lowest possible rates.
Blue Ridge Energy has returned over $104 million in capital credits to our members during our history. It pays to be served by a cooperative and we’re pleased to provide you, our members, with this important benefit!
Members will be eligible to win one of three exciting prizes when they vote in this year’s Board of Directors election!
Director election kits will mail, and email to those signed up for the electronic version, on May 28. As a cooperative, Blue Ridge Energy’s Board of Directors is made up of members who represent the entire membership. Each year, all Blue Ridge members can vote on and elect candidates for four open seats, one in each of the cooperative’s directorate districts: Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany.
Members can vote for director candidates online or by mail during this year’s voting period of May 28 through June 18. Members may vote, or change their previous online or mail vote, if attending the cooperative’s annual meeting in person. The annual meeting will be held June 26 at 4 p.m. at the corporate headquarters in Lenoir.
If voting by mail, the proxy must be signed by the member with their choices clearly marked and received in the enclosed postage-paid envelope no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, 2025. To comply with election management procedures, the form
cannot be given to an employee or accepted at any Blue Ridge office.
To ensure the integrity of director elections, Survey and Ballot Systems, an independent election administrator, was approved by the Credentials and Election Committee in December 2024. Committee members’ names are available at ( BlueRidgeEnergy.com/C&E ). This committee is comprised of members from across the cooperative’s service area and is responsible for ensuring director elections are properly conducted, including certifying election results.
Director election kits will be sent to members on May 28. Included will be:
• biographical information for all candidates
• proxy with instructions on how members can vote for candidates in all districts by using one of two options: online or by returning the proxy provided in the kit that includes a postage-paid return envelope
• or, if signed up for the electronic director election kit, you will receive a link by email to easily vote online
