Four PUCO audits focus on actions at Firstenergy
There are no major violations, 8 minor ones
A year ago, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio was led by attorney Sam Randazzo, who received a $4.3 million consulting fee from Akron-based Firstenergy Corp.
This year, the PUCO is knee-deep in four audits of Firstenergy that are looking at the utility’s political and charitable spending, how it used special rider money and whether it followed state laws designed to make sure it isn’t giving an unfair advantage to its affiliates.
On Monday, the PUCO released the 165-page audit that examines whether Firstenergy followed laws governing corporate separation. Of the 44 separation requirements, Firstenergy had zero major violations and eight minor violations, the PUCO found.
On Tuesday, there will be a conference call about disputes over subpoenas and discovery in the audit on political and charitable spending Firstenergy’s Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Ohio Edison, and Toledo Edison. The audit is examining wheth
er money spent to pass and defend House Bill 6 was charged to customers.
Next month, comments and responses are due on an audit that concluded Firstenergy tried to charge its customers $24.5 million for poorly documented expenses, including money for a dark money group tied to a bribery scheme and companies owned by Randazzo. That audit recommended refunding $6.6 million to customers.
And Oct. 29 is the deadline for the audit report on how Firstenergy spent the distribution modernization rider money. Customers paid the rider from January 2017 to July 2019. The money was supposed to go toward electricity grid upgrades.
A summary of the four audits is available on the PUCO website.
Randazzo resigned in November after the FBI raided his Columbus condo. In July, Firstenergy agreed to pay a $230 million fine and signed a deferred prosecution agreement in which it admitted it paid $4.3 million to Randazzo and pushed him for chair of the PUCO so he could further the company’s interests.
Randazzo issued a statement in July that said in part: “I executed my duties as PUCO Chair conscientiously, lawfully, and mindful of striking the right balance between competing interests. At no time prior to or after my appointment to the PUCO was I asked or did I agree to exercise authority as a public official or perform any official action in my capacity as Chair to further Firstenergy’s legislative, regulatory or other interests.”
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other organizations.