FirstEnergy Ordered To Refund Ohioans $306 Million

Cleveland OH

01 December, 2021

3:41 PM

Description

OHIO — FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries will need to refund $306 million to Ohioans. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ordered FirstEnergy's three utility companies to refund Ohio customers on Wednesday. The three electric subsidiaries are Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison. "I'm pleased to see that the Commission has approved refunds and rate reductions for FirstEnergy's Ohio utility customers," said Commission Chair Jenifer French. "Today we resolve years of effort by numerous stakeholders in these cases and thank them for coming together to craft this sensible resolution." As part of the 2017-2019 earnings refund, FirstEnergy's utilities will refund customers $96 million. Residential customers will get a one-time bill credit for approximately $27. Non-residential customers will get a $2.60 per megawatt hour credit over a six-month period, the Commission said. The remaining $210 million would be refunded as a monthly bill credit as follows: $80 million during 2022$60 million during 2023$45 million during 2024$25 million during 2025FirstEnergy has been embroiled in a statewide scandal since federal investigators announced they were looking into the passing of House Bill 6, a $1.3 billion nuclear bailout which benefited two FirstEnergy plants. The company signed a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay $230 million to the state and federal government and admitted wrongdoing in the case, prosecutors announced. The Commission was handling its own investigation into FirstEnergy, including looking into several earnings reports, a security plan and efficiency audits. There were 10 total regulatory proceedings related to the energy company, but they were all settled on Wednesday.