Fall River Electric pays customers $1.5 million
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The following is a news release from Fall River Electric.
ASHTON – Fall River Electric Cooperative announces the payment in March of $1.5 million in the form of an Instant Owner Rebate to owner-members (customers) of the Cooperative.
The Fall River board wanted to return current profits, referred to as margins, to all the Cooperative’s owners. This $1.5M will be infused back into many of the local economies of the communities of eastern Idaho and southwestern Montana.
This is in addition to the more than $1.7 million paid out to owner-members in December through the Cooperative’s annual Patronage Capital program, meaning Fall River Electric has now distributed over $3.2 million in less than 90 days. March’s disbursement is to those customers that purchased power last year, while the December payments were to members of the Co-op that purchased power back in 2007.
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The patronage capital program is where extra revenues over the cost of operations is then disbursed to the Co-op’s owner-members on an approximate 20-year cycle. Unlike investor-owned utilities that pay profits to stockholders, Fall River Electric’s patronage capital is a customer’s investment in the Cooperative which is one of the most unique benefits of being a customer of Fall River Electric Cooperative.
“When we collect more money than the Cooperative needs to operate the business, the board and management feel strongly that we give those monies back to our owners, who are also our customers,” says Fall River Electric CEO Bryan Case.
The amount of each rebate is based on how much each owner-member paid for electricity in 2025 and is being provided as a credit on their March statements.