Wednesday, June 8, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | New bill affects EMC communitiesIn May, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed legislation passed during the recent session of the General Assembly that could bring thousands of dollars annually to communities served by Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs), including Coweta-Fayette EMC. House Bill 431, sponsored by Reps. Willie Talton, Larry ONeal, Jerry Keen, Mark Burkhalter, Vance Smith and others, allows EMCs to retain unclaimed capital credits for the sole purposes of funding education, economic development and 501(c)(3) charitable organizations in the EMC service area. This is a good day for Georgia communities, said Michael Whiteside, President & CEO of Coweta-Fayette EMC. Over the past 20 years $1million annually in excess margins has been returned back to our member/owners. Some of these payments go unclaimed and this new legislation will allow Coweta-Fayette to use these unclaimed funds in our community. Capital credits (a.k.a. patronage dividends) are margins over and above the cost of providing service for customer-owners of an EMC for a specific year, after EMC financial obligations have been met. According to unique cooperative business principles, capital credits may be returned to each member/customer on a pro-rata basis on a schedule determined by the respective EMC management and board of directors. Until now, unclaimed capital credits were remitted to the state Department of Revenue, under Georgias Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (DUPA). The new legislation will allow unclaimed capital credits remaining after five years to stay in the communities served by EMCs. The amount of unclaimed patronage dividends will fluctuate annually, depending on the amount of capital credits refunded to members in a given year. For example, in 2003, EMCs statewide refunded more than $22 million in capital credits to their members, while over a recent five-year period unclaimed capital credits each year averaged $1 million. To declare an abandoned capital credit, EMCs must follow strict member/owner notification requirements. They must post on either a company website or at the EMC headquarters a list of members and addresses who have failed to claim capital credits. And, they must advertise the location of the list three-to-six months before the retirement of capital credits in the newspaper designated as the legal county organ. Moreover, the list must contain notification that unclaimed funds will be donated to education, economic development or charities. Georgia joins 23 other states in the nation that are already following this procedure for their unclaimed capital credits. Like them, EMC donations would benefit programs like school partnerships, leadership programs, economic development assistance, healthcare and safety organizations. Coweta-Fayette EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to 65,000 consumers in Coweta, Fayette, Clayton, South Fulton, Heard, Spalding, Troop and Meriwether counties. Collectively, the 42 EMCs provide electricity and related services to four million people, nearly half of Georgias population, across 73 percent of the states land area. Georgias 42 EMCs now serve more customers than any other state network of EMCs in the nation. |
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