Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative customers will see credit on their May electric bills for their share of $3.14 million in capital credits, the utility announced last week.

Bluebonnet’s board of directors unanimously voted in April to return capital credits — or excess revenue above what it takes to run the utility — to its members.

"Bluebonnet’s primary goal is to provide safe, reliable, competitively priced power for our members, and we do an outstanding job," Bluebonnet’s board chairman Ben Flencher said. "Returning $3.14 million in capital credits to our members is icing on the cake and what sets Bluebonnet apart from other electric utilities."

Capital credits are like dividends for-profit companies pay their investors. City-owned utilities who take in revenue greater than their total expenditures typically reroute those surplus funds back into the city utility fund or general fund.

Each year, Bluebonnet’s board deliberates in April the return of capital credits to its members. When determining how much to return to the utility’s members, the board considers the impact that the amount returned to the members will have on electric rates and the utility’s financial strength, officials said.

In the last 10 years, Bluebonnet has returned $38.78 million in capital credits to its members.

"Bluebonnet’s ability to give back more than $38 million to its members during the past decade wouldn’t be possible without the board of director’s commitment to our members," Bluebonnet’s general manager Matt Bentke said. "Our financial and organizational success is directly attributable to their leadership and wise decisions."

The amount in capital credit each member gets back depends on how much electricity they used in previous years and how long they have been a customer of the utility. Current utility customers will receive a credit on their May electric bill for their share of this year’s capital credits refund. Former customers who are still owed a capital credit will receive a check in May or June.

Last year, Bluebonnet returned $3.18 million in capital credits to its customers, and $3.9 million in 2015.

Bluebonnet is one of the largest electric cooperatives in Texas and serves more than 92,000 meters across 14 counties in Central Texas.