Jackson EMC Returns $9 Million in Margin Refunds
Most Jackson EMC members will receive a check in the mail this month. Approximately 211,000 members and former members will receive their share of a total $9 million in margin refunds in December.
“As owners of a not-for-profit cooperative, you’re entitled to a portion of the funds left over each year after all of the cooperative’s expenses are paid, which we call margin refunds,” said Board Chairman Chuck Steele. “Your board is proud to be able to return it to you.”
Margins are refunded for a combination of years so that both longtime and newer members, as well as former members, benefit from belonging to an electric cooperative. This year, margin refunds will go to those who received electric service from Jackson EMC in 1990 and/or 2016. The sum of each member’s refund check is calculated according to the amount each member paid for electric service during those years.
After this December’s refund, Jackson EMC will have refunded $124.5 million in margin refunds to our member owners since our cooperative was founded in 1938.
Jackson EMC refunds margins, surplus above operating expenses, to its members each year. By 1963, the co-op had returned more than $1 million to members and had the highest margin refund record of any electric cooperative in the state. This record of returning margins to members ranks among the highest of the 840 electric cooperatives in the nation.