Published: February 18, 2016 |

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FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiaries Pennsylvania Power Company (Penn Power), West Penn Power Company (West Penn Power), Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed) and Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) have received approval from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PPUC) for long term infrastructure improvement plans that will result in a total of an additional $245 million being spent on capital investments over the next five years.

“The improvement plans for each utility are designed to complement the work we already do to reduce the number and duration of outages our customers experience. The plans will help us accelerate the vital work that targets enhancing service reliability,” said Linda Moss, president of Pennsylvania operations at FirstEnergy.

Planned projects include replacing underground cable, installing new fuses and sectionalizing devices on overhead wires, replacing aging circuit breakers and transformers in substations and replacing additional wooden poles.

Approximately $56 million of the work is expected to be completed in 2016 in the utilities’ service areas, with the remainder being spent over the next four years that the plans will be in place.

The costs associated with these service reliability investments will be recovered by the FirstEnergy utilities through distribution system improvement charges (DSICs) that were filed with the PPUC.  For an average FirstEnergy residential customer in Pennsylvania, the DSICs will initially result in about a $0.06 increase in their monthly bill, and will be updated quarterly. The companies have requested that the DSICs take effect July 1, 2016.

The long term infrastructure improvement plans and DSICs were authorized by Pennsylvania Act 11, which was approved in 2012, establishing a process to encourage electric, natural gas, water and sewer utilities in Pennsylvania to accelerate investments in aging infrastructure and help create economic benefits.

FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania utilities have, on average, the lowest rates in the state among investor-owned electric distribution companies.  If approved, the new rates would still, on average, be lower than the average rates charged today by other Pennsylvania utilities.

About FirstEnergy
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company’s transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.

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