AKRON, Ohio, July 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Corp.'s
(NYSE: FE) Ohio utilities – Ohio
Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison
– announced today that the Public Utilities Commission of
Ohio (PUCO) approved a
comprehensive settlement agreement that will return additional
savings to customers related to federal income tax law changes and
includes investments to modernize the electric distribution system
with advanced automation equipment, real-time voltage controls and
smart meters.
The settlement is supported by the PUCO Staff, residential
consumers, low income advocates, representatives of industrial and
commercial customers, environmental advocates, hospitals,
competitive generation suppliers and other parties.
FirstEnergy's Ohio customers
will receive 100 percent of the tax savings created by the federal
Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which includes tax savings already credited
to customers since last year. As a result of the additional tax
savings, a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours
of electricity could expect to see a reduction of over $4 in monthly bills.
"We are pleased to resolve the tax reform issues and will pass
along the tax savings to customers," said Samuel L. Belcher, senior vice president and
president of FirstEnergy Utilities. "We look forward to modernizing
our electric system with advanced equipment that will help reduce
the number and duration of power outages. Smart meters also will
allow our customers to make more informed decisions about their
energy usage."
Key components of FirstEnergy's approved grid modernization plan
include:
- Investing more than $500 million
over three years
- Installing 700,000 smart meters in the Ohio Edison, The
Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison areas along with the
necessary supporting communications infrastructure and data
management system
- Developing time-varying rates that give customers the
opportunity to reduce their monthly electric bill by using energy
during off-peak periods
- Installing automated equipment on at least 200 distribution
lines that can automatically isolate problems, prevent entire
circuit lockouts, and quickly restore electric service to
customers
- Installing voltage regulating equipment on more than
200 circuits to provide energy efficiency benefits by reducing
excessive voltage levels on the distribution grid.
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 24,500 miles of transmission lines
that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow
FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com. Follow
FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.
Forward-looking statements: This news release includes
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on information
currently available. Unless the context requires otherwise, as used
herein, references to "we," "us," "our," and "FirstEnergy" refer to
FirstEnergy Corp. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain
risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These
statements include declarations regarding management's intents,
beliefs and current expectations, and 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 successfully execute an exit from commodity-based
generation; the risks associated with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy
proceedings involving FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (FES), its
subsidiaries, and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC)
(FES Bankruptcy) that could adversely affect FirstEnergy,
FirstEnergy's liquidity or results of operations, including,
without limitation, that conditions to our settlement agreement
with respect to the FES Bankruptcy settlement agreement may not be
met or that such settlement agreement may not be otherwise
consummated, and if so, the potential for litigation and payment
demands against us by FES, FENOC or their creditors; the ability to
accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and
financial goals, including, but not limited to, our strategy to
operate and grow as a fully regulated business, to execute our
transmission and distribution investment plans, to continue to
reduce costs through FE Tomorrow, which is the FirstEnergy
initiative launched in late 2016 to identify our optimal
organization structure and properly align corporate costs and
systems to efficiently support FirstEnergy as a fully regulated
company going forward, and other initiatives, and to improve our
credit metrics, strengthen our balance sheet and grow earnings;
legislative and regulatory developments at the federal and state
levels, including, but not limited to, matters related to rates,
compliance and enforcement activity; economic and weather
conditions affecting future operating results, such as significant
weather events and other natural disasters, and associated
regulatory events or actions; changes in assumptions regarding
economic conditions within our territories, the reliability of our
transmission and distribution system, or the availability of
capital or other resources supporting identified transmission and
distribution investment opportunities; changes in customers' demand
for power, including, but not limited to, the impact of state and
federal energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates;
changes in national and regional economic conditions affecting us
and/or our major industrial and commercial customers or others with
which we do business; the risks associated with cyber-attacks and
other disruptions to our information technology system that may
compromise our operations, and data security breaches of sensitive
data, intellectual property and proprietary or personally
identifiable information; the ability to comply with applicable
state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency and
peak demand reduction mandates; changes to federal and state
environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to,
those related to climate change; changing market conditions
affecting the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of
assets held in our pension trusts and other trust funds, or causing
us to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are
larger, than currently anticipated; the risks associated with the
decommissioning of the retired nuclear facility owned by
FirstEnergy subsidiaries; the risks and uncertainties associated
with litigation, arbitration, mediation and like proceedings; labor
disruptions by the unionized workforce of FirstEnergy subsidiaries;
changes to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws
or regulations, including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, adopted
December 22, 2017, 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; actions that may be
taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect either
our access to or terms of financing or our financial condition and
liquidity; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to
time in FirstEnergy's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
filings. Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy's
common stock, and thereby on FirstEnergy's preferred stock, during
any period may in the aggregate vary from prior periods due to
circumstances considered by FirstEnergy'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 together with, the risk factors included in FirstEnergy's SEC
filings with the SEC, including but not limited to the most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q, together with any subsequent Current Reports on Form 8-K. 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 obligation to update or revise, 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.