A MESSAGE FROM YOUR WCEC CEO

KYLE WALLIS

What It Means To Be A Member

Whether you realize it or not, you’re a member and an owner of Wharton County Electric Cooperative.

When you receive a capital credits check in the mail, that’s a payment owed to you as an owner. When you cast a ballot in our board of directors elections, that’s a chance to participate in the democracy of the cooperative model.

October is National Cooperative Month, when we celebrate the benefits of co-op membership.

You can be a member of many institutions—a gym, 4-H club, food-of-the-month club, the list goes on and on. But being a member of a cooperative is different. When you’re a member of a co-op, you’re also an owner.

When you signed up to get electric service from WCEC, you “bought” a stake in our business; and just like any stakeholder, you’re offered the benefits of membership.

That means we’re not turning a profit on your need for electricity. Our bottom line is providing you with safe, reliable and affordable electricity, which demands that we think about expenses, overhead and other aspects of daily business. But when we have money left over at the end of the year, we send it back to you and all your fellow members.

Whether we return capital credits to you in the form of a bill credit or a check, you have a say in where that money goes. Returning capital credits to you is a major benefit of co-op membership.

As your electric co-op, we have the privilege of being a vital part of the community we serve. When we think about membership, we think about the ways we can give back to you, our members.

This October, I want to thank you for being a member. Without you, there is no co-op. Thank you for taking an interest in the co-op that you own.