Auction Planned for FirstEnergy Solutions' Emission Allowances

AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Solutions, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), announced that a competitive bidding auction process will be conducted to sell sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission allowances for 2012 and 2013.  The allowances are the result of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently enacted Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR).

The auction is scheduled to begin in mid-November.  When the date is determined, it will be listed on an informational website -- www.fescsaprauction.info -- that has been established to provide additional details about FirstEnergy Solutions' emission allowance auction process.  

An ascending-price clock auction format will be used.  The auction will be managed by CRA International, Inc., a worldwide leader in providing management, economic, and financial consulting services.  

The auction will offer six products for sale:

• CSAPR SO2 Allowances for 2012
• CSAPR SO2 Allowances for 2013
• CSAPR Annual NOx Allowances for 2012
• CSAPR Annual NOx Allowances for 2013
• CSAPR Seasonal NOx Allowances for 2012
• CSAPR Seasonal NOx Allowances for 2013

Each of the products will be divided into identical blocks, or tranches, with each having a reserve price and a minimum quantity to sell at the reserve price.  The minimum quantity of SO2 allowances being offered at the reserve price will be 50,000 each for 2012 and 2013.

Questions about the FirstEnergy Solutions emission allowance auction process will be answered directly through the Website.  Or, interested parties can contact CRA via email at [email protected]

About CSAPR

Beginning in 2012, the EPA set an annual limit for SO2 and NOx for each of the 28 states covered by CSAPR.  As part of the program, all generating units above 25 megawatts are allocated a set amount of emission allowances for SO2 and NOx beginning in 2012.  Each allowance awarded to a company allows it to emit one ton of SO2 or NOx.  

Similar cap and trade allowance programs have been used successfully over the years to reduce power plant emissions in the United States.  Units that reduce their emissions below the allocated number of allowances may trade with other units in their generating system or sell the allowances to other power plant operators on the open market.  

About CRA's Auctions & Competitive Bidding Practice

For over 15 years, CRA has developed and/or managed auctions and other market mechanisms for a range of industries including energy, commodities, telecommunications, transportation, oil and gas, natural resources, and metals & minerals.

About CRA International / Charles River Associates (CRA)

Charles River Associates is a global consulting firm specializing in litigation, regulatory, and financial consulting, and management consulting.  Headquartered in Boston, CRA has offices throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.  Detailed information about Charles River Associates, a registered trade name of CRA International, Inc., is available at http://www.crai.com.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence.  Its 10 electric distribution companies comprise the nation's largest investor-owned electric system.  Its diverse generating fleet features non-emitting nuclear, scrubbed baseload coal, natural gas, and pumped-storage hydro and other renewables, and has a total generating capacity of nearly 23,000 megawatts.

Forward-Looking Statement:  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," "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. Actual results may differ materially due to: the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry, the impact of the regulatory process on the pending matters in the various states in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related to rates, the status of the PATH project in light of PJM's direction to suspend work on the project pending review of its planning process, its re-evaluation of the need for the project and the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of any related capital expenditures, business and regulatory impacts from ATSI's realignment into PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy and commodity market prices and availability, financial derivative reforms that could increase our liquidity needs and collateral costs, the continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulated utilities to collect transition and other costs, operation and maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, other legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements, including possible GHG emission, water intake and coal combustion residual regulations, the potential impacts of any laws, rules or regulations that ultimately replace CAIR including the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the effects of the EPA's recently released MACT proposal to establish certain mercury and other emission standards for electric generating units, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any NSR litigation or potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such expenditures could result in our decision to shut down or idle certain 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 NRC, including as a result of the incident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant), issues that could arise as a result of the current outage at Davis-Besse for the installation of the new reactor vessel head, adverse legal decisions and outcomes related to Met-Ed's and Penelec's ability to recover certain transmission costs through their transmission service charge riders, the continuing availability of generating units and changes in their ability to operate at or near full capacity, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency mandates, changes in customers' demand for power, including but not limited to, changes resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy efficiency mandates, the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals, efforts, and our ability, to improve electric commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of coal and coal transportation on such margins, the ability to experience growth in the distribution business, the changing market conditions that could affect the value of assets held in FirstEnergy's nuclear decommissioning trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause FirstEnergy to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated, the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with FirstEnergy's financing plan, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries, changes in general economic conditions affecting FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries, interest rates and any actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect FirstEnergy's and its subsidiaries' access to financing or their costs and increase requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, LOCs and other financial guarantees, the continuing uncertainty of the national and regional economy and its impact on the major industrial and commercial customers of FirstEnergy's subsidiaries, issues concerning the soundness of financial institutions and counterparties with which FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries do business, issues arising from the recently completed merger of FirstEnergy and Allegheny Energy, Inc. and the ongoing coordination of their combined operations including FirstEnergy's ability to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers, as well as the ability to successfully integrate the businesses and realize cost savings and any other synergies and the risk that the credit ratings of the combined company or its subsidiaries may be different from what the companies expect, the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in FirstEnergy's and its applicable subsidiaries' SEC 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 any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.