FirstEnergy keeps raking in the money

As The Dispatch reported, the House Public Utilities Committee just put the brakes on FirstEnergy’s pleas to bail out its uneconomic nuclear reactors. That’s good news, but the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) has quietly been providing the utility giant a giant subsidy— even before the giveaway has been formally approved.

In October, the PUCO gave a tentative $625 million subsidy to reduce FirstEnergy’s debt associated with its bad business decisions. PUCO procedures require regulators to solicit responses and reconsider its initial decision. Ohio commissioners, however, have allowed FirstEnergy to start collecting without the final approval. Regulators also agreed the utility could keep its windfall even if the tentative bailout was overturned by the PUCO or the Ohio Supreme Court.

The PUCO’s rehearing process should have been completed by Jan. 1, when FirstEnergy began collecting the tariff, pocketing around $363,000 every day — or more than $2.5 million every week. The postponements also prevent critics from challenging the bailout decision before the Ohio Supreme Court.

The PUCO delays mean FirstEnergy keeps raking in more money, customers face unnecessarily high bills, and groups like the Environmental Defense Fund have to keep waiting to challenge this unjustified giveaway. Clearly, justice delayed is justice denied for FirstEnergy’s customers.

Dick Munson

Director

Midwest Clean Energy Environmental Defense Fund Chicago

Joseph Fox Lancaster