By John Stang
Reversing an earlier stance, FirstEnergy Corp. announced this week it would refund $26 million to ratepayers that it collected this year through a controversial 2019 law.
Last week, FirstEnergy Corp. told the Ohio state government that the company should not have to refund $30 million collected from Ohio ratepayers under scandal-tainted legislation passed in 2019 to support two financially struggling nuclear reactors.
But in a press release Wednesday, FirstEnergy announced it would refund $26 million of that amount with credits applied to future ratepayer bills. That amount covers extra rates applied to homes’ bills since Jan. 1, 2020.
The company collected the funds under provisions the Ohio General Assembly passed in 2019 as part of the controversial House Bill 6. The measure provides a $150 million annual bailout to the financially struggling Davis-Besse and Perry power plants, operated by former FirstEnergy subsidiary Energy Harbor. The bailout was to be paid with an $0.85 monthly increase in the electric bill for each Ohio residential utility customer, regardless of whether that home is a FirstEnergy customer.
Last week, the legislature passed a bill to eliminate nuclear subsidiary provisions of the 2019 law. Also, the General Assembly recently passed a bill to nullify the “decoupling” provision in House bill 6, which benefited only FirstEnergy.
That decoupling provision guaranteed FirstEnergy a $102 million annual profit, regardless of actual electrical consumption in Ohio. The $102 million was based on FirstEnergy’s most profitable year, 2018. Under House bill 6, FirstEnergy was allowed to boost rates to meet the minimum profit guarantee.
House Bill 6 is linked to a $60 million bribery scandal involving FirstEnergy.
A July 2020 federal indictment alleges that Generation Now was set up as a 501(c)(4) social welfare entity to launder bribe money to then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) from FirstEnergy. The money went directly to Householder and other Ohio House candidates who would support Householder’s run for speaker and help shepherd House Bill 6 through the General Assembly, the federal government alleged.
Householder lost his speakership, but was reelected to the legislature last November, when he ran unopposed. Householder and four political operatives have been charged in federal court with racketeering in this matter. Two have pleaded guilty. Householder and two others have pleaded not guilty.
So far, FirstEnergy has not been charged in the matter.
In another matter, FirstEnergy appointed two new board members employed by billionaire Carl Icahn in the wake of Icahn’s interest in buying a significant number of shares of the corporation. That bumps the board from 12 to 14 members. The appointees are Andrew Teno and Jesse Lynn, both of whom work for Icahn’s investment firm.
