Ownership Rewards is a portion of your equity or ownership in the cooperative.

A not-for-profit electric cooperative sets rates to generate enough money to pay operating costs, plus a reasonable margin. That margin is the member’s equity returned.

To donate your Ownership Rewards check to the cooperative – which will be assigned to our member assistance program – sign the check on the back. Below your signature, write: “Deposit to Project Helping Hand (PHH) Fund at Adams County Community Foundation (ACCF).” Mail the check with your bill payment, or in a separate envelope to:

 

Adams Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Project Helping Hand Fund at Adams County Community Foundation

1338 Biglerville Road

P.O. Box 1055

Gettysburg, PA 17325-1055

The amount is based upon the amount of electricity that you use each year and grows every year that you continue to purchase electricity from the co-op. The actual amount is indicated on your electric bill in April or May. Each year, a percentage of that equity is returned to you. If you are due more than $15 in Ownership Rewards, you will receive a check.

Each year, the Adams Electric board of directors decides on whether the financial health of the cooperative will allow for Ownership Rewards.

After you move off the co-op’s lines, your equity investment remains on the books and in your name until it is returned in full — a process that can take up to 20 years based upon the current method. Because of that, if you move off our lines, please keep Adams Electric updated on your new address(es) so you will continue to receive future rewards on time. Unclaimed Ownership Rewards are returned to current members only through scholarships and member assistance.

Ownership Rewards for a deceased member may be paid out early at a discount without waiting for the general multiyear process to take place. However, that is not automatic; a representative of the estate must complete the proper forms and the board must approve the early return.

Within the electric industry, Ownership Rewards exist only at member-owned electric co-ops. Investor-owned utilities pay dividends to shareholders, who may or may not be customers.

The amount of $2.7 million returned in 2024 raises the total amount to more than $55 million for all years.