AKRON,
Ohio, Sept. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy
Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced that it has reached a settlement
agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to
resolve its previously disclosed investigation.
"We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the SEC as we
continue to turn a new chapter," said Brian
X. Tierney, President and Chief Executive Officer of
FirstEnergy. "Our focus today is investing in our regulated
electric companies to improve the customer experience and support
the energy transition."
FirstEnergy's settlement requires a civil penalty of
$100 million. The company's
previously disclosed second quarter earnings materials indicated
that it had taken a reserve of $100
million in the second quarter of 2024 in anticipation of the
agreement with the SEC. A copy of the settlement order can be found
in FirstEnergy's Current Report on Form 8-K, which will be filed
shortly and will be available on the Investors section of its
corporate website.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its 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 approximately 24,000 miles of
transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and
on X @FirstEnergyCorp.
Forward-Looking Statements: This release includes
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on information
currently available to management. Such statements are subject to
certain risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These
statements include declarations regarding management's intents,
beliefs and current expectations. These statements typically
contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate,"
"potential," "expect," "forecast," "target," "will," "intend,"
"believe," "project," "estimate," "plan" and similar words.
Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
actual results, performance or achievements to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, which may
include the following: the potential liabilities, increased costs
and unanticipated developments resulting from government
investigations and agreements, including those associated with
compliance with or failure to comply with the Deferred Prosecution
Agreement entered into July 21, 2021
with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of
Ohio; the risks and uncertainties
associated with government investigations and audits regarding Ohio
House Bill 6 as passed by Ohio's
133rd General Assembly ("HB 6") and related matters,
including potential adverse impacts on federal or state regulatory
matters, including, but not limited to, matters relating to rates;
the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation,
arbitration, mediation and similar proceedings, particularly
regarding HB 6 related matters, including risks associated with
obtaining dismissal of the derivative shareholder lawsuits; changes
in national and regional economic conditions, including recession,
volatile interest rates, inflationary pressure, supply chain
disruptions, higher fuel costs, and workforce impacts, affecting us
and/or our customers and those vendors with which we do business;
variations in weather, such as mild seasonal weather variations and
severe weather conditions (including events caused, or exacerbated,
by climate change, such as wildfires, hurricanes, flooding,
droughts, high wind events and extreme heat events) and other
natural disasters affecting future operating results and associated
regulatory actions or outcomes in response to such conditions;
legislative and regulatory developments, including, but not limited
to, matters related to rates, energy regulatory policies,
compliance and enforcement activity, cyber security, and climate
change; the risks associated with physical attacks, such as acts of
war, terrorism, sabotage or other acts of violence, and
cyber-attacks and other disruptions to our, or our vendors',
information technology system, which may compromise our operations,
and data security breaches of sensitive data, intellectual property
and proprietary or personally identifiable information; the ability
to meet our goals relating to employee, environmental, social and
corporate governance opportunities, improvements, and efficiencies,
including our greenhouse gas ("GHG") reduction goals; the ability
to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits through establishing
a culture of continuous improvement and our other strategic and
financial goals, including, but not limited to, overcoming current
uncertainties and challenges associated with the ongoing government
investigations, executing Energize365, our transmission and
distribution investment plan, executing on our rate filing
strategy, controlling costs, improving credit metrics, maintaining
investment grade ratings, and growing earnings; changing market
conditions affecting the measurement of certain liabilities and the
value of assets held in our pension trusts may negatively impact
our forecasted growth rate, results of operations, and may also
cause us to make contributions to our pension sooner or in amounts
that are larger than currently anticipated; mitigating exposure for
remedial activities associated with retired and formerly owned
electric generation assets, including those sites impacted by the
recently promulgated legacy coal combustion residual rules; changes
to environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited
to, rules recently finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency
and the SEC related to climate change; changes in customers' demand
for power, including, but not limited to, economic conditions, the
impact of climate change, emerging technology, particularly with
respect to electrification, energy storage and distributed sources
of generation; the ability to access the public securities and
other capital and credit markets in accordance with our financial
plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the
capital and credit markets affecting us, including the increasing
number of financial institutions evaluating the impact of climate
change on their investment decisions; future actions taken by
credit rating agencies that could negatively affect either our
access to or terms of financing or our financial condition and
liquidity; changes in assumptions regarding factors such as
economic conditions within our territories, the reliability of our
transmission and distribution system, generation resource planning,
or the availability of capital or other resources supporting
identified transmission and distribution investment opportunities;
the potential of non-compliance with debt covenants in our credit
facilities; the ability to comply with applicable reliability
standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates;
human capital management challenges, including among other things,
attracting and retaining appropriately trained and qualified
employees and labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; changes
to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws or
regulations, including, but not limited to, the Inflation Reduction
Act of 2022, or adverse tax audit results or rulings; and the risks
and other factors discussed from time to time in our SEC filings.
Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy Corp.'s common
stock during any period may in the aggregate vary from prior
periods due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy Corp.'s
Board of Directors at the time of the actual declarations. A
security rating is not a recommendation to buy or hold securities
and is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the
assigning rating agency. Each rating should be evaluated
independently of any other rating. These forward-looking statements
are also qualified by, and should be read together with, the risk
factors included in FirstEnergy Corp.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2023,
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for
the quarter and other filings with the SEC. The foregoing review of
factors also should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors
emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to
predict all such factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor
on FirstEnergy Corp.'s business or the extent to which any factor,
or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially
from those contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy
Corp. expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise,
except as required by law, any forward-looking statements contained
herein or in the information incorporated by reference as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.