As we welcome the new year, I want to begin by thanking you for the trust you place in Umatilla Electric Cooperative. A new year brings renewed opportunity, and it also provides a meaningful moment to reflect on what makes our cooperative different and why your role as a member-owner truly matters.
Last month, UEC retired more than $1 million in capital credits checks to eligible members. These checks are not a rebate, a promotion, or a one-time benefit. They represent one of the most tangible ways our cooperative business model works in your favor. Capital credits are a direct return of margins that you helped generate through your electric service, and they are a clear reminder that UEC exists to serve you—not outside investors.
Here is how the process works. As a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative, UEC sets electric rates to cover the cost of providing safe, reliable power and maintaining our electric system. When revenues exceed expenses in a given year, excess margins are allocated to members. Allocations are recorded as patronage in each member’s name and retired as capital credits.
December’s $1 million retirement of capital credits reflects careful financial stewardship, long-term planning, and a strong balance sheet. It also reflects something more important: our commitment to returning value to you whenever possible while continuing to invest in your electric cooperative.
Capital credits are key to what set a cooperative apart. Unlike investor-owned utilities, where profits are paid to shareholders, UEC’s margins are reinvested through our members and businesses who depend on our service every day. That is the cooperative difference.
You are more than customers—you are members who invest in UEC. Your participation, engagement, and trust shape the decisions we make and the direction we take. We value that relationship deeply, and we do not take it for granted.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, our employees, and myself, thank you for being part of Umatilla Electric Cooperative.
Join us for UEC’s 89th Annual Meeting and Membership Dinner on April 18, 2026, where board elections for Districts 5, 6, and 7 will be announced. Details on the election process and annual meeting will be published in upcoming issues of Ruralite and posted on our website.
We look forward to serving you in the year ahead and continuing to deliver value, reliability, and local accountability—together.
Robert Echenrode
President/CEO