PPEC gives $1.4 million back to members

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PAULDING — Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative members will see a lower electric bill around the holidays. That’s because the cooperative’s Board of Trustees recently approved the return of $1.4 million to its members.

Members will be seeing a credit on their December bill, while the money is being returned to members in the form of capital credits, also known as profits or margins.

PPEC is a not for profit co-op, and one of the seven cooperative principles is members’ economic participation, which means members contribute equitably to the capital of the co-op.

“Simply put, this means that PPEC members contribute a portion of the capital necessary to grow the co-op,” said PPEC President/CEO George Carter. “Eventually, as the co-op is financially able to do so, the board approves the capital be returned, or ‘retired’ back to those members who contributed it originally.”

Including this year’s capital credit return, Paulding Putnam Electric has returned just over $20 million to its members. According to Carter, this process is what sets the cooperative apart from other utilities.

“We’re not in business to make a profit for shareholders,” he noted. “If there is leftover money, we give it back to members. We return the money to members around the holidays because that’s when many people need it the most.”

Paulding Putnam Electric is a member-owned electric utility serving over 12,900 member-owners in Paulding, Putnam, Defiance, Van Wert, and Allen counties in Ohio, and Adams and Allen counties in Indiana. For more information, access the cooperative’s website at www.PPEC.coop or follow it on Twitter or Facebook.

Anyone with questions about PPEC’s capital credit refund should call the cooperative at 800.686.2357.