With over 58,000 members, Flathead Electric Cooperative is second-largest energy utility in Montana. However, most people don’t give a second thought to how the electric company operates and what a “co-op” really means. In the Flathead Valley, the electric co-op’s unique setup allows the organization to funnel surplus money back into community education.
As a private, not-for-profit, Flathead Electric gives any money left over at the end of each year back to co-op members in the form of “capital credits.” However, communications and marketing supervisor Courtney Stone explained that many of those credits go unclaimed.
“There’s a lookup tool on our website that makes it really easy to see if you or your business has unclaimed capital credits,” Stone said. “Many go unclaimed because people move away, and they don’t always add a forwarding address. So, one of the wonderful benefits of being a cooperative, a community driven business model, is that we use that unclaimed money to fund education projects of significance in the community.”
