Matanuska Electric posts its list of $451,000 in unclaimed capital credits

Somebody in the Mat-Su is owed about $15,000 by their electric co-op and probably has no idea. Matanuska Electric Association published an updated list this month of more than $451,000 in capital credits it has not been able to pay out, some of it dating to 1997.

Most of the names are worth far less. The average unclaimed amount is around $57, and roughly one name in eight is flagged as under $10.

Finding out which you are takes a phone call. The list runs 46 pages and carries no dollar amounts at all, just names. Members, former members and family can call Member Services at 907-761-9300 to confirm their information, update an address and have a check reissued. The co-op says most of this money goes uncollected simply because people move and it loses track of where they went.

Capital credits are how an electric cooperative returns its margins to the people who bought the power in the first place. The board pays them out, which it calls retiring them, when it decides the co-op's finances can support it. MEA has done so every year since 2018, about $12.4 million in total, across roughly 58,000 members in the Mat-Su and Eagle River.

If the member has died, the credits go to the estate, capped at $2,500, and the co-op wants a death certificate, notarized forms and probate paperwork.

Every page of the list carries an Aug. 14 escheat date, the point at which unclaimed property can pass to the state. MEA says a check can be reissued at any time regardless, no matter how old.