NOV EMB ER
DEAR MEMBERS, Your SECO Energy Board of Trustees unanimously approved a Capital Credits retirement of $2.9 million to current and former members. Look for your Capital Credits retirement amount on your November billing statement. Sumter Electric brought electricity to rural residents of Central Florida through the Rural Electrification Act (REA). In 1938, the cooperative energized its first 400 meters. Now doing business as SECO Energy, we have grown into a regional utility that serves over 225,000 homes and businesses in seven Central Florida counties. We pay tribute to our cooperative founding – rooted in serving impoverished, disenfranchised and hard-to-reach residents who were not provided with electric service by investor-owned utilities. Capital Credits are a unique financial component of cooperatively structured, not-for-profit businesses. As a member, you are a partial owner of the cooperative. Since our founding, we have regularly retired/returned a portion of the cooperative’s equity to current and former members. SECO Energy has retired over $80 million to its membership. Your monthly energy purchases build patronage capital – you own a portion of SECO’s equity. Ownership is defined through the annual process of allocating each member’s share of the co-op’s margins from the prior year. Individual Capital Credit allocations represent the percentage of the annual amount of electric service purchased by each member.
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2022
After the co-op meets its operating costs and expenses, the prior year’s revenues are accumulated as Capital Credits. These credits are allocated pro-rata to each member’s account as Capital Credits. Yearly, SECO examines the cooperative’s financial position and recommends the “retirement” of Capital Credits. Your Board of Trustees reviews the recommendation and determines the approval of the Capital Credits return. This year’s $2.9 million retirement means SECO is returning a portion of the cooperative’s equity to its membership. A line item appears on November billing statements labeled “Capital Credit Ret.” Active commercial account members with retirements over $600 will receive a check. Former members who receive a retirement over $10 will receive a check. If you move out of SECO’s service area, keep your mailing address updated so we can mail future retirements to your new address. SECO Energy is one of the fastest-growing cooperatives in the nation. We are the thirdlargest distribution cooperative in Florida and seventh largest in the country. Though we are no longer a rural utility, we remain consistent in the not-for-profit practice of returning Capital Credits to our members. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, thank you for your SECO Energy membership. Sincerely,
Mike Muffett District 6 Trustee
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