READING, Pa., May 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — In the midst of a severe thunderstorm late Wednesday night, vandals damaged a Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) radio tower and other specialized electrical equipment in Clearfield County. Were it not for the prompt response of company employees working in that area as part of Penelec’s workforce continuity plan – implemented May 21 after members of IBEW Local 459 went on strike – this act of vandalism could have resulted in lengthy power outages to customers.
A failure alarm for the radio tower was received at the Penelec regional dispatch office in Erie that alerted the company there was a disturbance. The specialized equipment located at the site includes radio-controlled switches that help Penelec dispatchers maintain electric service throughout the region. Once the problem was identified, crews were dispatched and the necessary repairs were made.
As a result of the suspected sabotage, Penelec is enhancing its security around company facilities. The Pennsylvania State Police and local authorities are investigating. In addition, the company has notified the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and has contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security.
"Based on the damage, the incident does not appear to be a random act," said Penelec Regional President
James R. Napier. "We have a zero tolerance approach to vandalism of any kind. The damage done to our equipment puts our customers and employees at risk. We are asking our customers to report any suspicious behavior they see around our equipment and are working with the appropriate authorities to identify those responsible so that they can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Penelec, an electric utility operating company of Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), serves approximately 590,000 customers in 31 Pennsylvania counties.
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 our 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 distribution rate case or implementing the recently approved ESP, including the impact of the competitive generation procurement process in Ohio, 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 AQC 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 NSR 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 NRC (including, but not limited to, the Demand for Information issued to FENOC on May 14, 2007), 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 it 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 the company, the state of the capital and credit markets affecting the company, interest rates and any actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect FirstEnergy’s access to financing or its costs and increase its requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and other financial guarantees, the continuing decline of the national and regional economy and its impact on FirstEnergy’s major industrial and commercial customers, issues concerning the soundness of financial institutions and counterparties with which FirstEnergy does business, 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 its 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.
