Competitive Bidding Process Planned to Procure Electric Generation Supply for FirstEnergy's Ohio Utilities
Posted on: Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 09:05 CST
AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:
FE) announced today that a competitive bidding process is being planned for
its Ohio utilities - Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and
Toledo Edison - to procure electric generation for delivery from April 1,
2009, through August 31, 2009, for retail customers who choose not to shop
with an alternative supplier.
Similar to the successful process conducted in December to procure
generation for delivery during the first three months of 2009, the competitive
bidding process will use a Request for Proposal (RFP) format and will be
managed by CRA International, a global consulting firm with expertise in
energy markets and procurement. Individual bidders will not be permitted to
serve more than 75 percent of the companies' load for non-shopping retail
customers. Bidders will be required to certify that they are creditworthy,
acting independently of other bidders, and are making firm offers to provide
generation service. Bids are due on March 12, 2009, and winning bidders will
be notified the same day.
The companies have established a Web site to provide bidders with a
central source of documents, data and other information for the bidding
process. This information is available by accessing
www.firstenergy-auction.com/2009RFP. The contact for the RFP Manager is Brad
Miller, vice president, CRA International, who can be reached at 617-425-3384,
or RFPManager@crai.com. Companies interested in receiving information on this
RFP process should register on the RFP Web site.
The RFP is being planned to ensure that customers continue to have a
reliable supply of electricity while the companies and other stakeholders
actively work toward the goal of reaching a stipulated agreement on an
Electric Security Plan (ESP). If an agreement among the parties is reached
and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approves the agreement in a timely
manner, the companies will cancel this RFP process and generation supply will
be secured through an ESP. The companies, which do not own any electric
generation, serve 2.1 million customers in Ohio.
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio.
Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmission
and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other
energy-related services. Its seven electric utility operating companies
comprise the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system, based on
4.5 million customers served, within a 36,100-square-mile area of Ohio,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and its generation subsidiaries control more than
14,000 megawatts of capacity.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking
statements based on information currently available to management. Such
statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. 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," "believe," "estimate" 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. Actual results may differ materially due to the speed and
nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry and
legislative and regulatory changes affecting how generation rates will be
determined following the expiration of existing rate plans in Ohio and
Pennsylvania, the impact of the PUCO's regulatory process on the Ohio
Companies associated with the Electric Security Plan and Market Rate Offer
filings, including any resultant mechanism under which rates charged to retail
customers may not fully recover the costs of energy supply, or the outcome of
any competitive procurement process in Ohio to allow the Ohio Companies to
provide energy supply for their customers, economic or weather conditions
affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services,
changing energy and commodity market prices and availability, replacement
power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the
continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulated utilities to collect transition
and other charges or to recover increased transmission costs, maintenance
costs being higher than anticipated, other legislative and regulatory changes,
revised environmental requirements, including possible greenhouse gas emission
regulations, the potential impacts of the U.S. Court of Appeals' July 11, 2008
decision requiring revisions to the CAIR rules and the scope of any laws,
rules or regulations that may ultimately take their place, the uncertainty of
the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures needed to, among other
things, implement the Air Quality Compliance Plan (including that such amounts
could be higher than anticipated or that certain generating units may need to
be shut down) or levels of emission reductions related to the Consent Decree
resolving the New Source Review litigation or other potential regulatory
initiatives, adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes (including,
but not limited to, the revocation of necessary licenses or operating permits
and oversight) by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (including, but not
limited to, the Demand for Information issued to FENOC on May 14, 2007), the
timing and outcome of various proceedings before the PUCO (including, but not
limited to the distribution rate cases and the generation supply plan filing
for the Ohio Companies and the successful resolution of the issues remanded to
the PUCO by the Ohio Supreme Court regarding the Rate Stabilization Plan and
the Rate Certainty Plan, including the recovery of deferred fuel costs), Met-
Ed's and Penelec's transmission service charge filings with the PPUC, the
continuing availability of generating units and their ability to operate at or
near full capacity, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal
reliability standards, the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated
benefits from strategic goals (including employee workforce initiatives), the
ability to improve electric commodity margins and to experience growth in the
distribution business, the changing market conditions that could affect the
value of assets held in FirstEnergy's nuclear decommissioning trusts, pension
trusts and other trust funds, and cause FirstEnergy to make additional
contributions sooner, or in an amount that is larger than currently
anticipated, the ability to access the public securities and other capital and
credit markets in accordance with FirstEnergy's financing plan and the cost of
such capital, changes in general economic conditions affecting FirstEnergy,
the state of the capital and credit markets affecting FirstEnergy, and the
risks and other factors discussed from time to time in its SEC filings, and
other similar factors. The foregoing review of factors 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 our 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 expressly disclaims any current
intention to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a
result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
Source: PR Newswire
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