FirstEnergy Solutions' Electric Generation Discount Extended to August 1, 2011, for West Penn Power Customers

AKRON, Ohio, June 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Solutions is giving West Penn Power's residential customers additional time to sign up for its fixed price offer, which was originally set to expire June 30, 2011.

Customers now have until August 1, 2011, to enroll in FirstEnergy Solutions' offer of 6.60 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on electric generation through December 2013.  This is an 8 percent savings over West Penn Power's current average generation rate of 7.21 cents per kWh.

"We're very pleased to be able to extend this successful offer – currently the lowest fixed price on electric generation in West Penn Power's service area – for another month," said Arthur Yuan, senior vice president of Retail Sales & Marketing for FirstEnergy Solutions.  "We had an excellent response to our initial offer and current market conditions allow us to keep this offer available longer."

FirstEnergy Solutions currently serves more than one million residential and small business customers throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Residents who choose FirstEnergy Solutions as their electric generation supplier will continue to receive one bill and the same distribution service from their local electric utility company.  The utility will continue to deliver the electricity, maintain the poles and wires, and respond to power outages.

Residential customers interested in learning more about the FirstEnergy Solutions offer should contact the company at 1-877-220-4279 or go online to www.fessave.com/westpenn.  All that is needed is a recent electric bill.  Discounts and savings for commercial and industrial businesses are available by visiting www.fes.com.  There is no cost to enroll.

Special pricing for small businesses is available to the following ChamberChoice member organizations served by West Penn Power: African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania, Allegheny Valley Chamber of Commerce, Beaver County Chamber of Commerce, Bedford County Chamber of Commerce, Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce, Butler County Chamber of Commerce, Cameron County Chamber of Commerce, Clarion Chamber of Business and Industry, East Liberty Quarter Chamber of Commerce, Fayette Chamber of Commerce, Greater Canonsburg Chamber of Commerce, Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce, Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, Greater Waynesboro Chamber of Commerce, Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce, Kane Chamber of Commerce, Latrobe Area Chamber of Commerce, Mon Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, Monongahela Area Chamber of Commerce, Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce, Mountain Laurel Chamber of Commerce, New Kensington Area Chamber of Commerce, Norwin Chamber of Commerce, Penn Hills Chamber of Commerce, Peters Township Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce, Regional Chamber Alliance, Ridgway-Elk County Chamber of Commerce, South Side Chamber of Commerce, South West Communities Chamber of Commerce, St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce, StrongLand Chamber of Commerce, Washington County Chamber of Commerce, Waynesburg Area Chamber of Commerce and Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce.

FirstEnergy Solutions, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), provides competitive electric generation supply and other energy-related products and services, and is a licensed supplier in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan and Illinois.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence.  Its 10 electric distribution companies comprise the nation's largest investor-owned electric system.  Its diverse generating fleet features non-emitting nuclear, scrubbed baseload coal, natural gas, and pumped-storage hydro and other renewables, and has a total generating capacity of approximately 24,000 megawatts.

FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. is an unregulated subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. The prices of FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. are not regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and a customer is not required to buy electricity or other products or services from FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. in order to receive the same quality service from West Penn Power.

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, the impact of the regulatory process on the pending matters in the various states in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related to rates, the status of the PATH project in light of PJM's direction to suspend work on the project pending review of its planning process, its re-evaluation of the need for the project and the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of any related capital expenditures, business and regulatory impacts from ATSI's realignment into PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy and commodity market prices and availability, financial derivative reforms that could increase our liquidity needs and collateral costs, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulated utilities to collect transition and other costs, operation and maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, other legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements, including possible GHG emission, water intake and coal combustion residual regulations, the potential impacts of any laws, rules or regulations that ultimately replace CAIR and the effects of the EPA's recently released MACT proposal to establish certain mercury and other emission standards for electric generating units, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any NSR litigation or potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such expenditures could result in our decision to shut down or idle certain generating units), 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 as a result of the incident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, adverse legal decisions and outcomes related to Met-Ed's and Penelec's ability to recover certain transmission costs through their transmission service charge riders, the continuing availability of generating units and changes in their ability to operate at or near full capacity, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency mandates, changes in customers' demand for power, including but not limited to, changes resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy efficiency mandates, the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals, efforts, and our ability, to improve electric commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of coal and coal transportation on such margins, the ability 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 amounts that are larger than currently anticipated, the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with FirstEnergy's financing plan, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries, changes in general economic conditions affecting FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries, interest rates and any actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect FirstEnergy's and its subsidiaries' access to financing or their costs and increase requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, LOCs and other financial guarantees, the continuing uncertainty of the national and regional economy and its impact on the major industrial and commercial customers of FirstEnergy's subsidiaries, issues concerning the soundness of financial institutions and counterparties with which FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries do business, issues arising from the recently completed merger of FirstEnergy and Allegheny Energy, Inc. and the ongoing coordination of their combined operations including FirstEnergy's ability to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers, as well as the ability to successfully integrate the businesses and realize cost savings and any other synergies and the risk that the credit ratings of the combined company or its subsidiaries may be different from what the companies expect, the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in FirstEnergy's and its applicable subsidiaries' 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 FirstEnergy'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 expressly disclaims any current intention to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

www.firstenergycorp.com

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.