State regulators have hit FirstEnergy with a quarter of a billion dollars in penalties related to its actions from the billion-dollar nuclear power plant bailout law known as House Bill 6 and the bribery scandal surrounding it. Three of its companies will pay millions in restitution to customers, starting next month.
The Illuminating Company or CEI, Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison will pay to customers and to the state nearly $251 million for misusing money and violating state law and rules set by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The companies will pay just under $180 million to customers over three billing cycles, with an additional $6.64 million plus interest later. They'll also pay $64 million in civil penalties to the state's general revenue fund.
"In my opinion, the FirstEnergy utilities not only breached the regulatory compact all franchised utilities have with the commission, but more importantly, with the utilities' betrayal of trust, breached what I suggest should be recognized as a social compact with FirstEnergy customers," said PUCO commissioner Lawrence Friedeman.
"They violated one of their most fundamental responsibilities, and that's maintaining the public's trust in their role as a public utility," said PUCO commissioner John Williams. "I'm hopeful the remedies we approved today will serve as a strong deterrent against similar misconduct in the future. Our actions today should also stand as a clear reminder to FirstEnergy of the importance of continuing to reform its corporate culture and work diligently to rebuild the trust of the public."
The decision comes after several weeks of actions before the commission this summer. Chair Jenifer French said the PUCO had held two evidentiary hearings and 14 pre-hearing conferences, along with 92 issued commission and administrative law judge entries, 16 interlocutory appeals and seven applications for rehearing.
House Bill 6 sought to provide $1 billion in subsidies to Ohio's two nuclear power plants, operated by a FirstEnergy subsidiary. The law, passed in 2019, also provided subsidies to two coal-fired power plants, one of them in Indiana. It also gutted renewable energy standards and dramatically lowered energy efficiency standards for utilities.
FirstEnergy admitted to a plea deal on federal charges in 2021 and paid a $230 million fine for bribing Republican former House Speaker Larry Householder and the late former PUCO chair Sam Randazzo to get House Bill 6 passed in 2019. Former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling are awaiting trial on federal and state charges. The company has also paid a $100 million settlement to the Securities and Exchange Commission and a $20 million settlement to the state to avoid prosecution on state charges. FirstEnergy has new leadership under CEO Brian Tierney, who has said the utility is putting the scandal in the past.
Householder and former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges, both arrested in 2020, were convicted of bribery in 2023. Householder remains in federal prison on a 20-year sentence, and is also facing state charges. Borges was released early from his five-year sentence to a halfway house in Cincinnati last month and will stay there for a year. Randazzo, who was charged along with Jones and Dowling, died by suicide last year.
