Press Release

PUC Approves Settlement with FirstEnergy Over Reliability Performance

Published on 11/4/2004

Filed under: Electric

HARRISBURG – FirstEnergy Corporation has committed to improving the service reliability of its three Pennsylvania companies by stepping up vegetation maintenance practices along power lines and by upgrading call centers to handle outage complaints more efficiently, under a settlement unanimously approved today by the Public Utility Commission.

            “With this decision, we are working to improve reliability immediately for FirstEnergy’s electric customers,” said PUC Chairman Wendell F. Holland. “We are approving a settlement accepted by all parties with the sole goal of reducing outages and enhancing electric service to customers of the company’s three Pennsylvania subsidiaries. We will also be vigilant in monitoring FirstEnergy’s performance."

            FirstEnergy companies in the Commonwealth include Metropolitan Edison (Met-Ed), Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) and Pennsylvania Power Company (Penn Power). The settlement closes out an investigation launched by the PUC in January after a review of reliability data showed that the companies may not have been meeting established standards.

            As part of the settlement, FirstEnergy will continue to clear vegetation around distribution lines on a four-year cycle and around transmission lines on a five-year cycle. But it will perform trial inspections in 2006 on a select number of rights-of-way to see if additional clearing is necessary. The Commission does not currently require companies to follow specific trimming cycles, but has relied on the companies to establish schedules appropriate for their respective territories.

            To provide better insulation against outages, the company will install at least 3,000 additional “cutouts,” or circuit protection devices, by the end of 2005 and at least 1,000 more each year from 2006 through 2008. Cutouts act as emergency stops and prevent outages from spreading to other parts of the system.

            The additional equipment is part of FirstEnergy’s commitment to spend at least $255 million in each year from 2005 through 2007 on its transmission and distribution system.

            To ensure that it has an adequately-trained staff to work on it system, FirstEnergy will establish at least one linemen training school at a still-unnamed Pennsylvania college, with enrollment beginning in fall of 2005.

            Also, the company is required to improve its education programs to better inform customers about how to use the automated power outage line and how to reach a live service representative. It will accomplish this through semi-annual bill inserts and meetings with customers and local emergency responders.

            At its call center in Reading, Pa., FirstEnergy will maintain a staff capable of handling at least 340,000 live calls a year. It pledged to answer 80 percent of all calls within 30 seconds, which would bring it in line with the commonly accepted standard for the call center industry.

            Besides its own customers, FirstEnergy supplies power to a number of rural electric cooperatives, which are not under the PUC’s jurisdiction. The company committed to improving service at co-op delivery points.

            Parties agreeing to the settlement include the PUC’s Law Bureau; state Office of Consumer Advocate; state Office of Small Business Advocate; the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association; and Allegheny Electric Cooperative.

            Administrative Law Judge Larry Gesoff recommended on Oct. 7 that the PUC approve the settlement.

            The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ensures safe, reliable and reasonably priced electric, natural gas, water, telephone and transportation service for Pennsylvania consumers, by regulating public utilities and by serving as stewards of competition.

            For recent news releases, or more information about the PUC, visit our Internet homepage at www.puc.paonline.com.

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Docket No. I-00040102

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