Each year the Board of Directors determines whether the co-op’s financial position permits the return, or retirement, of Capital Credits and, if so, what amount of Capital Credits will be retired.
The Board also decides the method for determining which Capital Credits are returned. At this time, BCREMC retires Capital Credits using the First-in, First-out, or FIFO, method. That means that the Capital Credits that have been invested in the Cooperative for the longest period of time are returned to members first. We are generally on a 25 year cycle – for example, Capital Credits allocated in 1994 are returned to members in 2019.