FirstEnergy Ohio Utilities File Comprehensive Settlement Agreement in Electric Security Plan Case

AKRON, Ohio, Dec. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Corp.'s (NYSE: FE) Ohio utilities today filed a comprehensive settlement in support of Powering Ohio's Progress, their proposed Electric Security Plan (ESP) at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).  The PUCO is expected to rule on the settlement early next year. 

The settlement filed by FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities – Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison – outlines ambitious steps to safeguard customers against retail price increases in future years, deploy new energy efficiency programs, and provide a clear path to a cleaner energy future by reducing carbon emissions. It has been signed by 16 parties, including the PUCO staff, EnerNOC, an energy management solutions provider, and Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, a low-income customer advocacy group.

The settlement outlines an eight-year rate provision associated with a Purchased Power Agreement (PPA) with Ohio baseload power plants. The rate provision will help protect customers against rising retail price increases and market volatility, while helping preserve vital baseload power plants that serve Ohio customers and provide thousands of family-sustaining jobs in the state. The PPA includes the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio, the W.H. Sammis Plant in Stratton, Ohio, and a portion of the output of Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) units in Gallipolis, Ohio, and Madison, Ind.

A typical residential customer using 750 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month could expect to pay a monthly average of about $3.25 more for the rate provision during the first full year of the ESP.  However, customers are projected to save more than $560 million over the plan's eight-year term as retail power prices increase over time.

The agreement also establishes a goal to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions across the company's six-state footprint by at least 90 percent below 2005 levels by 2045.  This goal represents a potential reduction of more than 80 million tons of CO₂ emissions, and is among the most aggressive targets in the utility industry. 

The settlement also provides more than $102 million to help low-income customers with bill payment and energy efficiency programs, along with economic development funding for Ohio communities. These investments will take the total amount provided to Ohio communities and low-income customers to nearly $200 million since the companies' first ESP was implemented in 2009.

"The proposed settlement is expected to deliver significant benefits to customers, protect thousands of family-sustaining jobs and vital tax revenues in Ohio communities, and provide for a cleaner energy future," said Charles E. Jones, FirstEnergy President and Chief Executive Officer. "The agreement also illustrates that a wide variety of parties support FirstEnergy's proposal and agree that it will serve the best interests of Ohio electric customers. The eight-year term provides an insurance policy for customers by keeping a diverse set of fuel sources available to generate electricity, rather than risking more plant closures and building costly transmission to import out-of state energy sources that put Ohio at greater risk of higher prices in the years ahead."

Other key benefits proposed in the settlement include:

• Preserving $1 billion in annual statewide economic benefits, including tax revenues and an estimated 3,000 direct and indirect jobs created by operations at the Davis-Besse and W.H. Sammis power plants in Ohio.
• Since 2009, residential customers' monthly distribution rates have increased an average of only $1.31, based on typical usage of 750 kilowatt-hours per month. Under the ESP, the PUCO must approve a request to file for a base distribution rate increase during the term of the plan.
• Filing a report by November 1, 2016, as part of a Resource Diversification Program that includes energy efficiency programs and renewable energy resources.
• A commitment to evaluate future initiatives for smart meter/smart grid technologies across FirstEnergy's Ohio service area for PUCO consideration and approval.   

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.  The company's transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, while its generation subsidiaries control nearly 17,000 megawatts of capacity from a diversified mix of scrubbed coal, non-emitting nuclear, natural gas, hydro and other renewables.  Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or online at www.firstenergycorp.com.  

Forward-Looking Statements: This news 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," "target," "will," "intend," "believe," "project," "estimate," "plan" 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 for the Competitive Energy Services segment; the accomplishment of our regulatory and operational goals in connection with our transmission investment plan, including but not limited to, our pending transmission rate case, the proposed transmission asset transfer, and the effectiveness of our repositioning strategy to reflect a more regulated business profile; changes in assumptions regarding economic conditions within our territories, assessment of the reliability of our transmission system, or the availability of capital or other resources supporting identified transmission investment opportunities; the impact of the regulatory process on the pending matters at the federal level and in the various states in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related to rates 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 PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) markets and 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 North American Electric Reliability Corporation's mandatory reliability standards; the uncertainties of various cost recovery and cost allocation issues resulting from American Transmission Systems, Incorporated's realignment into PJM; 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; changing energy, capacity and commodity market prices including, but not limited to, coal, natural gas and oil, and their availability and impact on margins and asset valuations; 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,  the effects of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, coal combustion residuals regulations, Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and Mercury and Air Toxics Standards programs, including our estimated costs of compliance, Clean Water Act waste water effluent limitations for power plants, and Clean Water Act 316(b) water intake regulation; 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 initiatives or rulemakings 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 as they relate to the reliability of the transmission grid, the timing thereof; the impact of other future changes to the operational status or availability of our generating units and any capacity performance charges associated with unit unavailability; 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; the impact of labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; 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 to successfully execute our financial plans designed to improve our credit metrics and strengthen our balance sheet through, among other actions, our previously-implemented dividend reduction, our cash flow improvement plan 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 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; the risks associated with cyber-attacks on our electronic data centers that could compromise the information stored on our networks, including proprietary information and customer data; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar factors.

Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy Corp.'s common stock during any period may in the aggregate vary from prior periods due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy Corp.'s Board of Directors at the time of the actual declarations. A security rating is not a recommendation to buy or hold securities and is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating agency. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating.

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.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.

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