AKRON, Ohio, Dec. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy
Corp.'s (NYSE: FE) Ohio utilities
today filed a joint stipulation agreement demonstrating broad
support for Powering Ohio's
Progress, their proposed Electric Security Plan (ESP) currently
pending before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
The proposed stipulation reflects the diverse interests and
concerns of 15 signatories, including parties that represent
residential, commercial, industrial and low-income customers, as
well as organized labor and schools. The
agreement supports FirstEnergy's proposed ESP that outlines plans
for its Ohio utilities – Ohio
Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating and Toledo Edison – to
provide electric service to customers for a three-year period from
June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2019.
Parties to the settlement include the City of Akron, Ohio Energy Group, Council of
Smaller Enterprises, Cleveland Housing Network, Consumer Protection
Association, Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland, Citizens Coalition, Nucor
Steel Marion, Material Sciences Corporation, Association of
Independent Colleges and Universities in Ohio, International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers Local 245, Ohio Power Company and FirstEnergy's three
Ohio utilities.
Powering Ohio's Progress
has also received widespread support from organizations throughout
the state that represent the interests of more than one million
Ohioans. More than 1,100 letters of support have already been
docketed in the case, and 15 local communities have passed
resolutions endorsing the plan.
"The proposed settlement reflects broad support for our ongoing
efforts to keep electric rates affordable for businesses and
consumers in Ohio," said
Leila Vespoli, Executive Vice
President, Markets and Chief Legal Officer at FirstEnergy.
"Our ESP will help assure reliable electric service and
protect jobs by keeping vital baseload power plants available to
serve Ohio customers. It will also
help safeguard customers from rising retail prices from expected
energy and capacity price increases in future years."
Under Powering Ohio's
Progress, customers will continue to receive additional
benefits and savings opportunities in the years ahead. The
plan includes a 15-year Economic Stability Program that supports
the state's economic future by helping ensure that critical
baseload power plants remain available to serve electric
customers. Additional benefits include:
- Freezing base distribution rates through May 31, 2019. Since 2009, residential
customers' distribution rates have increased an average of only
40 cents per month, or 1 percent,
based on typical usage of 750 kilowatt-hours per month.
- Preserving $1 billion in annual
statewide economic benefits, more than $52
million annually in local and state property and payroll
taxes, and an estimated 3,000 direct and indirect jobs created by
operations at the Davis-Besse, W.H.
Sammis and Ohio Valley Corporation (OVEC) power plants in
Ohio.
- Contributing up to $23 million in
economic development funding and energy efficiency assistance for
Ohio communities, colleges and
universities, small businesses, and low-income customers during the
three-year term of the plan.
- Contributing up to $7 million to
help low-income customers pay their electric bills and to fund the
establishment of an independent Customer Advisory Agency designed
to preserve and grow the competitive retail electric market for all
FirstEnergy residential customers in Ohio.
- Helping ensure key baseload electric generation remains
available to serve Ohio customers
and power Ohio's economy.
- Continuing to provide generation supply to non-shopping
customers through a competitive bid process.
- Retaining customers' option to shop for a competitive electric
supplier.
- Supporting continued investment in distribution system
reliability.
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety,
reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric
distribution companies form one of the nation's largest
investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, West Virginia,
Maryland and New York.
Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.
Forward-Looking Statements: This press release includes
forward-looking statements based on information currently available
to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties. These statements include declarations regarding
management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These
statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms
"anticipate," "potential," "expect," "forecast," "will," "intend,"
"believe," "estimate" and similar words. Forward-looking statements
involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements, which may include the following:
the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric
utility industry, in general, and the retail sales market in
particular; the ability to experience growth in the Regulated
Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments and to
successfully implement our revised sales strategy in the
Competitive Energy Services segment; the accomplishment of our
regulatory and operational goals in connection with our
transmission plan and pending distribution rate cases and the
effectiveness of our repositioning strategy; the impact of the
regulatory process on pending matters in the various states in
which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related
to rates and pending rate cases, and the Electric Security Plan IV
in Ohio; the impact of the federal
regulatory process on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) regulated entities and transactions, in particular FERC
regulation of wholesale energy and capacity markets, including the
PJM markets and also FERC-jurisdictional wholesale transactions,
FERC regulation of cost-of-service rates, including FERC Opinion
No. 531's revised Return on Equity methodology for
FERC-jurisdictional wholesale generation and transmission utility
service and FERC's compliance and enforcement activity, including
compliance and enforcement activity related to NERC's mandatory
reliability standards; the uncertainties of various cost recovery
and cost allocation issues resulting from American Transmission
Systems, Incorporated's realignment into PJM Interconnection,
L.L.C.; economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and
margins such as a polar vortex or other significant weather events,
and all associated regulatory events or actions; regulatory
outcomes associated with storm restoration costs, including but not
limited to, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Irene and the October
snowstorm of 2011; changing energy, capacity and commodity market
prices including, but not limited to, coal, natural gas and oil,
and their availability and impact on margins; the continued ability
of our regulated utilities to recover their costs; costs being
higher than anticipated and the success of our policies to control
costs and to mitigate low energy, capacity and market prices; other
legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental
requirements, including, but not limited to, possible greenhouse
gases emission, water discharge, and coal combustion residuals
regulations, the potential impacts of Cross-State Air Pollution
Rule, and the effects of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rules including our
estimated costs of compliance; the uncertainty of the timing and
amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection
with any litigation, including New Source Review litigation, or
potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that
such expenditures could result in our decision to deactivate or
idle certain generating units); the uncertainties associated with
the deactivation of certain older regulated and competitive fossil
units, including the impact on vendor commitments, and the timing
thereof as they relate to, among other things, Reliability Must Run
arrangements and the reliability of the transmission grid; the
impact of other future changes to the operational status or
availability of our generating units; adverse regulatory or legal
decisions and outcomes with respect to our nuclear operations
(including, but not limited to the revocation or non-renewal of
necessary licenses, approvals or operating permits by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission or as a result of the incident at
Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Plant); issues arising from the indications of cracking in the
shield building at Davis-Besse; the risks and uncertainties
associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and like
proceedings, including, but not limited to, any such proceedings
related to vendor commitments; replacement power costs being higher
than anticipated or not fully hedged; the ability to comply with
applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy
efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes in
customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, changes
resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy
efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; the ability to
accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and
financial goals, including, but not limited to, the ability to
continue to reduce costs and successfully execute our announced
financial plans designed to improve our credit metrics and
strengthen our balance sheet through, among other actions, our
previously-implemented dividend reduction and our other proposed
capital raising initiatives; our ability to improve electric
commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the
increased cost of fuel and fuel transportation on such margins;
changing market conditions that could affect the measurement of
certain liabilities and the value of assets held in our Nuclear
Decommissioning Trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and
cause us and/or our subsidiaries to make additional contributions
sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated;
the impact of changes to material accounting policies; the ability
to access the public securities and other capital and credit
markets in accordance with our announced financial plans, the cost
of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit
markets affecting us and our subsidiaries; actions that may be
taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect us
and/or our subsidiaries' access to financing, increase the costs
thereof, and increase requirements to post additional collateral to
support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and
other financial guarantees; changes in national and regional
economic conditions affecting us, our subsidiaries and/or our major
industrial and commercial customers and other counterparties with
which we do business, including fuel suppliers; the impact of any
changes in tax laws or regulations or adverse tax audit results or
rulings; issues concerning the stability of domestic and foreign
financial institutions and counterparties with which we do
business; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to
time in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission
filings, and other similar factors. The foregoing review of factors
should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time
to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such
factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy's
business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of
factors, may cause results to differ materially from those
contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy expressly
disclaims any current intention to update, except as required by
law, any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.