Jim Matheson on Direct Pay

Almost eight thousand attendees were thrilled to be in Nashville in early March for NRECA's 2022 Annual Meeting, now called PowerXchange. It marked the first in-person Annual Meeting since March 2019 in New Orleans and under the new name.

There was a lot to take in, including a discussion with NRECA CEO Jim Matheson on the topic of Direct Pay. 
 

PUF's Lori Burkhart: Jim, explain to our readers, what is the issue of Direct Pay for cooperatives regarding investment in innovative energy technologies?

Jim Matheson: For several years, Congress has used the tax code as a way to incentivize investment in new energy technologies. That's fine, except for those of us who are in the nonprofit space.

We don't have the opportunity to realize the benefit of that incentive, because we're exempt from federal taxes. This is an issue for both electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, which together comprise thirty percent of the power sector.