At Cherryland, we do not operate like other utilities. If we have money left over, after purchasing the equipment, fueling up the trucks, and setting the poles, we pay it back to you. As a member, you get a piece of the pie.

Since the beginning, Cherryland has allocated margins back to our members. When the time came, we retired that money from previous years to those members in the form of capital credits. This process of allocating and retiring capital credits continues to this day.

As a member, we know your life changes. You get a new job, you get tired of the snow, you move away. Years later, when it comes time for us to give you those capital credits, you could be gone.

This scenario is not uncommon. Over the past five years, an average of 10 percent of capital credits have gone unclaimed. That’s more than $1.3 million dollars! How do we go about getting this money back to our former members? How would you get your piece of the pie?

Cherryland’s Carol Krumlauf is the head of the “Unclaimed Capital Credit Project.” She is tasked with finding and returning capital credits to those who were previously unreachable. If there is patronage capital with your name on it, she makes sure it gets in your hands.

As you might imagine, Carol’s task is anything but simple. She begins by sifting through our database to find any information on the former member, whether it’s a birthdate, an old address, a previous employer, or other details. She then takes the information and inputs it into a program that searches public records to help find the individual.

Once the person is found, Carol sends a letter of verification to assure that the correct person was found. Assuming it’s a match, the individual is sent his or her piece of the pie. If the individual is found but is deceased, Carol performs another search for the next of kin.

Since 2013, Carol’s efforts have produced a return of $550,000 of unclaimed capital credits to former members. And the number of former members with unclaimed capital credits continues to dwindle. All in all, this process takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s important to Carol, and to Cherryland. “We are a cooperative. It’s what makes us different,” Carol says. “It’s saying ‘thank you’ to our members for being a part of our cooperative family, even if it’s in the past.”

We could be looking for someone you know! At CherrylandElectric.coop we keep a list of former members who have unclaimed capital credits. If you see someone you know on the list, please contact us.