FirstEnergy: Buying a bailout?

Thursday March 14, 2019 - Edition #62

Ohio legislators are once more considering bailing out FirstEnergy’s ailing nuclear plants – a proposal that got nowhere last year. Why the sudden resurgence in interest?

Dan Gearino writes in Inside Climate News that FirstEnergy “spent heavily in Republican legislative primaries. The company and its allies backed the winners in enough races to get its preferred candidates into top positions.” The utility giant now wants a return on its political investment – legislation that will give it some $300 million to keep operating uneconomic power plants.

According to Gearino, the new chairman of the House Public Utilities Committee received “big checks from [the newly-elected House speaker] and his allies, including FirstEnergy and donors tied to the coal industry.”

The Republican chairman now admits he’s “in the best position in order to try to protect the Perry Nuclear Power Plant which has been slated for closure." (Refresher: the clunky plant is slated for closure because its power is too expensive and not needed.)

It appears that campaign contributions eclipse principles, that bailouts overcome markets.

For past newsletters and other updates, you can always visit our FirstEnergy landing page.

Don't stop FirstEnergy now

Most people think bankruptcy is a precursor to disaster. FirstEnergy thought it a shrewd business decision.

In fact, by getting a bankruptcy judge to forgive some $1.2 billion in debt, FirstEnergy showed a whopping $981-million profit for 2018 and is “now considered investment grade across the board with all three rating agencies – S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch.”

Yet the greedy utility is asking the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) for an extra $400 million, supposedly so it can improve its already high credit rating.

Did FirstEnergy get caught up in the recent Queen craze?

Midwestern utilities stepping up

Ohioans shouldn’t have to tolerate FirstEnergy’s backwardness and greed. They simply can look across the Midwest to find creative utilities and competitive entrepreneurs willing to invest in modern technologies.

Consumers Power in Michigan, for instance, is closing two old coal-fired power plants and developing solar, which the CEO says “is available when Michigan needs it."
Xcel, based in Minnesota, has been the nation’s leading wind-energy provides for ten years running.
Indiana’s NIPSCO intends to replace coal with renewable sources, including solar and wind.
Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison worked with environmentalists to advance the Future Energy Jobs Act that advances efficiency and clean energy.

Rather than bail out a mistake-laden utility, the Buckeye State deserves better.