Refund to Customers on November Bill

Sangre de Cristo Electric Association (SDCEA), your community electric cooperative, is pleased to announce consumers will get a one-time refund credited to their November bill that they will receive in early December, just in time for the holidays!

SDCEA saw higher-than-anticipated energy sales in 2021. Higher energy sales, along with a small reduction in our wholesale power cost, led to healthier margins for the year than were anticipated. The one-time refund was authorized by the SDCEA Board of Directors during its October meeting to reflect these unique, concurrent events.

The refund amount for each consumer will vary, as it is based on the total amount of each account’s monthly electric bill total from January through October 2021. Only active memberships will be eligible for the refund. If you have more than one account, your total credit for all accounts will post to your main account.

SDCEA is an electric cooperative. Electric cooperatives operate on a not-for-profit basis. Margins, when consumer revenues exceed costs, are used by SDCEA as equity and for operating capital. SDCEA generally allocates margins in the form of capital credits to consumers. Over time, capital credits may be retired and paid back to our members in the form of capital credit refunds when the financial position of the cooperative permits and policy provisions are met.

In the case of this refund, the board of directors determined that 2021 margins are in excess of needed equity and operating funds that would normally be allocated for a future date and therefore should be returned to consumers this year.