Concordia Electric customers should find a little extra cash in their mailboxes in the next few weeks.

On July 19, the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved a plan to issue $165 million in refunds to customers of the state’s electrical cooperatives.

Believed one of the largest utility refunds ever ordered in the state, the refund came from the settlement of a five-year Cajun cooperative bankruptcy suit.

Billy Harris, Concordia Electric general manager, said the refund checks should be mailed next week.

More than 12,000 Concordia Electric customers in Concordia and neighboring parishes will receive refunds based on the amount of energy consumed, Harris said.

Only those customers metered between April 1999 and March 2000 are eligible for the refund, and refund amounts are based on energy used during that 11-month time period.

The typical household, which uses between 1,000 and 2,000 kilowatts per hour, should expect a refund check of between $266 and $399.

According to the refund scale, the more energy used, the greater the refund. Commercial accounts are measured on a different scale, Harris said.

Then, in mid-2002 and again in mid-2004, co-op customers will receive an additional $18.9 million, this time in the form of credits to their bill.

The $165 million refunded to customers represents two-thirds of the total settlement.

The remaining amount goes to Rural Utilities Systems, which finances the state electrical co-op.