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FirstEnergy Fires CEO as Nuclear Bailout Probe Continues

November 1, 2020

The post FirstEnergy Fires CEO as Nuclear Bailout Probe Continues appeared first on POWER Magazine.

FirstEnergy Corp. President and CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones was fired late Thursday after an internal review found Jones and two other company executives violated company policies in connection with an alleged bribery scheme.

The case is connected to a legislative bailout of the state’s nuclear power plants that occurred in 2019. The law, known as House Bill 6 (HB 6), meant state electricity ratepayers would pay more in their bills to subsidize the state’s nuclear plants, along with two coal-fired power plants jointly owned by the state’s utilities.

Thursday’s action came after two of the four lobbyists charged in the federal racketeering probe entered guilty pleas in the case.

Federal agents in July arrested Larry Householder, an Ohio Republican lawmaker and former Speaker of the House, and four other men, including lobbyists for FirstEnergy and its former subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions, now known as Energy Harbor.…

Troubled FirstEnergy Companies Seek Bankruptcy Protection

April 3, 2018

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FirstEnergy Corp.’s competitive arm FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) and several key subsidiaries, including FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. (FENOC), on March 31 sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. FirstEnergy said the move would facilitate an “orderly financial restructuring” and accelerate its strategy to become a fully regulated utility.

FES—the parent company of FE Aircraft Leasing Corp., FirstEnergy Generation, FirstEnergy Nuclear Generation—along with FirstEnergy Generation Mansfield Unit 1 Corp., Norton Energy Storage, and FENOC filed the voluntary petition seeking relief under Chapter 11 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

In aggregate, the companies have about $ 3.8 billion of funding indebtedness. FES, which sells power and related services to retail and wholesale customers in Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, in December 2017 reported total assets, liabilities, and capitalization of about $ 5.5 billion, but brought in revenues of about $ 3.1 billion.

FES holds about $ 1.5 billion of funded indebtedness, including a $ 700 million secured revolving credit facility; about $ 332 million of 6.05% of unsecured notes, which are due in 2021; about $ 363 million of 8.80% unsecured notes due in 2039; and a $ 150 million revolving credit note with Allegheny Energy Supply Co.,…

FirstEnergy Suffers Steep Losses, Will Close Massive Coal Plant

February 21, 2018

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FirstEnergy Corp. bled $ 2.64 billion from its competitive businesses over 2017, financial losses exacerbated by marked declines in contract sales, higher operating expenses, and costs associated with asset impairment and plant exit.

The Akron, Ohio–based company, which in January received a $ 2.5 billion equity injection from four private investment groups to boost its transition to a fully regulated utility company, on February 20 reported full-year 2017 losses of $ 1.7 billion on revenues of $ 14 billion. In 2016, the company recorded losses of $ 6.2 billion on revenues of $ 14.6 billion.

The losses, though significant, are indicative of progress for the company, which has, since 2016, announced the sale or closure of 2,471 MW of competitive generation operated in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Closure of a 1.3-GW Coal-Fired Power Plant

On February 16, FirstEnergy announced it had notified PJM Interconnection of a plan to deactivate its 1979-built Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia. The 1,300-MW plant will be sold or closed on January 1, 2019.…