COLUMBUS, OHIO (April 1, 2018) – The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) Chairman Asim Z. Haque offered the following regarding FirstEnergy Solutions, Inc. filing for bankruptcy.
“The decision by First Energy Solutions, Inc. (FES) to reorganize in bankruptcy has been widely expected by the energy industry and Wall Street. FES is licensed by the PUCO to sell electricity to residential and industrial customers in Ohio. The commission is charged with ensuring reliable power delivery and we will continue to do so for all Ohioans. There is no reason for customers of FES – or anyone else in Ohio – to be concerned about whether or not they will have electricity. They will.”
Under Ohio law, the PUCO does not regulate power plants, including FES’s power plants, but it does regulate power lines. The PUCO believes that the financial health of our power line companies, the distribution utilities, is important to ensure continued grid reliability and modernization. To that end, in 2016, it agreed to allow FES’s parent company, FirstEnergy Corp. to charge its customers an additional $540 million over three years. This additional fee, known as a Distribution Modernization Rider, has the option of being extended for two years.