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• Patronage Dividends
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Patronage Dividends

As a rural electric cooperative member, you are part owner of a business. Basically you have pooled your money with other members and created equity for your Rural Electric Cooperative to buy electricity and provide services at an affordable cost.

As a locally owned business, your Rural Electric Cooperative is committed to the people it serves and the communities in its area. Because Cooperatives are member-owned and operated, one of the principles your Rural Electric Cooperative follows is a commitment to returning your investment. This is done in the form of patronage dividend.

Since Cooperatives are nonprofit, they return any margin to members through the patronage dividend process. The amount returned is in relation to the individual member's transactions with the Cooperative.

Patronage dividends are returned to Cooperative members on a rotating schedule.

Your Board of Directors approved a retirement of patronage dividends to the members in the amount of $231,869.19. This represents the remaining unpaid patronage for 1995, 94.97% of the remaining unpaid patronage dividends for 1996 and 20% of the patronage dividend assigned for 2010. Patronage dividends are returned to Cooperative members on a rotating schedule. Patronage dividend checks were mailed November 15, 2011.

With this retirement of patronage dividends, Lyon Rural Electric Cooperative has retired $5,838,677.48 in patronage dividends. This retirement of patronage dividends is faster than most electric cooperatives in the nation. According to a study by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), our banker, Lyon Rural Electric Cooperative has retired 42.61% of all patronage dividends assigned compared median, the cooperative in the middle of all reporting cooperatives, of 24.61%. Some electric cooperatives have never paid a retirement of patronage dividends.

When you think about your Rural Electric Cooperative, think about being an owner of a local business, because that is what you are. Reap the benefits from the Cooperative services provided today and look forward to a return on your investment in the future.