Pioneer Returns Capital Credits and Additional $1.2 Million to Members as Pandemic Relief
Pioneer is returning more than $2.2 million in capital credits to its consumer-members as part of our annual general retirement process. But this year, there’s more: The Pioneer Board of Trustees approved an additional $1.2 million bonus capital credits refund to assist our members during this unprecedented time.
General Retirement
Each year, the Pioneer Board of Trustees evaluates the financial condition of the cooperative to determine if they should retire capital credits. The Pioneer Board of Trustees has embraced a general retirement plan that will allow current, active members, as well as former, inactive members to receive a portion of the refund over time.
These annual retirements are made possible due to the financial strength of your cooperative and the proper management of investments in Pioneer’s distribution system.
This year marked 39 consecutive years that Pioneer has returned capital credits to its members, through the general retirement process. Some consumer-members may have already received their bill credit beginning in mid-May, while others will receive theirs in the coming weeks, depending on your billing dates.
Capital credit retirements are one of the things that sets cooperatives, like Pioneer, apart from other utilities — consumers own a portion of the not-for-profit electric co-op. Allocating and returning margins to members is part of what makes the cooperative business model different.
Bonus Capital Credits Refund
Additionally, in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our members and communities, Pioneer’s board of trustees approved a $1.2 million bonus capital credits refund to our consumer-members. Special retirements aren’t an annual occurrence; however, we understand that many of our members have been without work for an extended period and could benefit from this additional refund of capital credits.
Your bill, received between mid-June and early July, will show a credit for the bonus capital credits refunded to you. We hope that this additional bill credit helps to ease your hardships during this unusual time. I’d also like to encourage any of our members who have been more fortunate throughout the past few months to consider paying this bonus capital credit return forward to someone in need in one of our communities.
We don’t know what the lasting effects of this pandemic will be, but we want you to know that our commitment to our membership and communities is unwavering. I’m sure you’ve heard it from us before, but we want to remind you, especially throughout this time, that we are here for you — 24/7/365, whenever you need us.
