AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy
Corp. (NYSE: FE) announced that its Allegheny Energy Supply
subsidiary today notified PJM Interconnection (PJM), the regional
transmission organization, of its plan to deactivate the coal-fired
Pleasants Power Station in Willow
Island, West Virginia. The 1,300-megawatt (MW) plant
will be sold or closed on January 1,
2019. The plant deactivation is subject to PJM's
review for reliability impacts, if any.
FirstEnergy subsidiary Mon Power filed a plan in March 2017 seeking regulatory approval to acquire
the Pleasants Power Station, which would have resolved a projected
10-year energy capacity shortfall and decreased electric bills for
customers. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
rejected the proposal on January 12,
2018. The Public Service Commission of West Virginia approved the sale subject to a
number of significant conditions. Those conditions, combined with
the FERC rejection, make the proposed transfer unworkable.
"Closing Pleasants is a very difficult choice because of the
talented employees dedicated to reliable operation of the station
and the communities who have supported the facility for many
years. But the recent federal and West Virginia decisions leave FirstEnergy no
reasonable option but to expeditiously move forward with
deactivation of the plant," said Charles E.
Jones, FirstEnergy president and chief executive
officer. "We will continue to pursue opportunities to sell
the plant while planning for deactivation."
The decision to deactivate the plant impacts approximately 190
employees. Affected employees may be eligible to receive severance
benefits through the FirstEnergy severance plan if the plant is
closed.
Located along the Ohio River in Willow
Island, West Virginia,
Pleasants Power Station began operation in 1979. Its two
650-megawatt generating units together produce enough electricity
to power approximately 1.3 million homes.
Since 2016, FirstEnergy has announced the sale or closure of
2,471 MW of competitive generation operated in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Following the deactivation of the
1,300-megawatt Pleasants plant, the company will own or control
generating capacity totaling approximately 14,795 MW from scrubbed
coal, nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy facilities across
Ohio, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, New Jersey,
Virginia and Illinois. FirstEnergy continues to complete
the strategic review of its remaining competitive generating
fleet.
FirstEnergy is 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 16,000 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 ability to experience growth in the
Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments and the
effectiveness of our strategy to transition to a fully regulated
business profile; the accomplishment of our regulatory and
operational goals in connection with our transmission and
distribution investment plans, including, but not limited to, our
planned transition to forward-looking formula rates; 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 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;
success of legislative and regulatory solutions for generation
assets that recognize their environmental or energy security
benefits, including the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released by
the Secretary of Energy and action by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC); the risks and uncertainties associated with the
lack of viable alternative strategies regarding the Competitive
Energy Services (CES) segment, thereby causing FirstEnergy
Solutions Corp. (FES), and likely FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating
Company (FENOC), to restructure its substantial debt and other
financial obligations with its creditors or seek protection under
United States bankruptcy laws and
the losses, liabilities and claims arising from such bankruptcy
proceeding, including any obligations at FirstEnergy Corp.; the
risks and uncertainties at the CES segment, including FES, and its
subsidiaries, and FENOC, related to wholesale energy and capacity
markets and the viability and/or success of strategic business
alternatives, such as pending and potential CES generating unit
asset sales, the potential conversion of the remaining generation
fleet from competitive operations to a regulated or regulated-like
construct or the potential need to deactivate additional generating
units, which could result in further substantial write-downs and
impairments of assets; the substantial uncertainty as to FES'
ability to continue as a going concern and substantial risk that it
may be necessary for FES, and likely FENOC, to seek protection
under United States bankruptcy
laws; the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation,
arbitration, mediation and like proceedings, including, but not
limited to, any such proceedings related to vendor commitments,
such as long-term fuel and transportation agreements; the
uncertainties associated with the deactivation of older regulated
and competitive units, including the impact on vendor commitments,
such as long-term fuel and transportation agreements, and as it
relates 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; changing
energy, capacity and commodity market prices including, but not
limited to, coal, natural gas and oil prices, and their
availability and impact on margins; costs being higher than
anticipated and the success of our policies to control costs and to
mitigate low energy, capacity and market prices; replacement power
costs being higher than anticipated or not fully hedged; 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; 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); 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; economic or weather conditions
affecting future sales, margins and operations such as a polar
vortex or other significant weather events, and all associated
regulatory events or actions; 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 labor
disruptions by our unionized workforce; the risks associated with
cyber-attacks and other disruptions to our information technology
system that may compromise our generation, transmission and/or
distribution services and data security breaches of sensitive data,
intellectual property and proprietary or personally identifiable
information regarding our business, employees, shareholders,
customers, suppliers, business partners and other individuals in
our data centers and on our networks; the impact of the regulatory
process and resulting outcomes on the matters at the federal level
and in the various states in which we do business including, but
not limited to, matters related to rates; the impact of the federal
regulatory process on 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; 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; the ability to comply
with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy
efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; other legislative
and regulatory changes, including the new federal administration's
required review and potential revision of 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 (CWA) waste water
effluent limitations for power plants, and CWA 316(b) water intake
regulation; 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;
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 significant accounting policies; the
impact of any changes in tax laws or regulations or adverse tax
audit results or rulings; 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; further 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, increase
requirements to post additional collateral to support, or
accelerate payments under outstanding commodity positions, letters
of credit and other financial guarantees, and the impact of these
events on the financial condition and liquidity of FirstEnergy
Corp. and/or its subsidiaries, specifically FES and its
subsidiaries; 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 (SEC)
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. These forward-looking
statements are also qualified by, and should be read in conjunction
with the other cautionary statements and risks that are included in
our filings with the SEC, including but not limited to the most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q. The foregoing review of factors also 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 our 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. We expressly disclaim 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.