Jackson EMC members will receive a check in the mail this month. Approximately 202,800 members and former members will receive their share of a total of $7.5 million in margin refunds in December.

“As a member of a not-for-profit cooperative, you’re eligible to receive a portion of the revenue left over at the end of the year after all the bills are paid, which we refer to as margins,” says Board Chairman Otis Jones. “Since your cooperative is in excellent financial condition, your board can return this money 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 2015. 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 returned $115.5 million in margin refunds to our owner/members since our cooperative was founded in 1938.

Each year, Jackson EMC refunds margins, surplus above operating expenses, to its members. 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.