As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, CHELCO's success is measured by our member-owners' satisfaction with our safe and reliable electricity at reasonable prices. In other words, we don't have shareholders or investors to answer to, meaning we will always act in the best interest of our membership alone.
As a distribution cooperative, we don not generate the power we own. Instead, we buy it from PowerSouth, a generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative in Andalusia, Alabama. CHELCO's role is to deliver the electricity from PowerSouth and maintain the electrical system that serves our members.
The charges on your electricity bill reflect the careful management of CHELCO's cost for wholesale power, operations, maintenance of infrastructure, and planning for the future. Any margins, or profits in other businesses, are either allocated (invested) or retired (returned) to members through capital credits, as determined by our democratically-elected Board of Trustees (see Capital Credits page for more information).