JCP&L Rate Proposal Delays Bill Impact for Residential Customers Until 2028 While Supporting Reliability Investments

• Proposed offsets to prevent residential customers from feeling changes to base delivery rates in 2027;
• A proposed $253 million increase in base distribution rates, which would result in a bill increase of approximately 7% when offsets expire in 2028;
• The recovery of $476 million in previously deferred storm costs through a separate dedicated charge that goes into effect in January 2028, spreading recovery over a 10-year period rather than seeking recovery over a shorter timeframe.

If approved, the average JCP&L customer would see a total bill increase of about 8.5%, with residential customers seeing an impact of approximately 8.8%. For the typical residential customer using 767 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, currently paying $162.30 per month, that's $14.23 a month.

While the new base distribution rates would be effective on May 6, 2027, the company will delay the impacts of new rates until January 2028, giving customers more time to prepare for the changes. If approved, proposed offsets would equal the change in base delivery rates for residential customers – the portion of the bill that pays for poles and wires, storm restoration and other delivery costs – in 2027.

Doug Mokoid, FirstEnergy President of New Jersey: "Customers shouldn't have to choose between affordability and reliability. Our balanced approach puts both front-and-center simultaneously by minimizing the impact on bills today and giving customers time to plan, while continuing to invest in the infrastructure needed to deliver safe, reliable service for generations to come."

Committed to Affordability
JCP&L's approach to affordability combines cost discipline, bill protection and future opportunities for customers to save.

Teresa Reed, JCP&L's Vice President, Rates & Regulatory: "We are listening to our customers and leading with affordability. By keeping our own costs down and taking an innovative approach, JCP&L is a responsible steward of our customers' energy dollars."

Base rate filings allow utilities to recover the cost of upgrading infrastructure and restoring customers after storms. Increasingly frequent severe storms pushed JCP&L's deferred storm costs to $476 million before the July 3-6 storms.

Investing in Reliability
JCP&L's $1.5 billion in capital investments over the past three years have brought measurable reliability improvements. In 2025, reliability improved 15%, compared to 2024. So far this year, reliability has improved 38%.

Patricia Mullin, JCP&L's Vice President, Operations: "While we've made progress over the past two years, we still have more work to do. When we invest, our customers benefit. This means fewer interruptions for families, more time open for businesses and more investment in our communities and economy."

JCP&L's plan supports an additional $2.1 billion in base distribution investments, part of a larger five-year, $6.9 billion capital plan that includes:

• Modernizing the grid through focused investments in highest priority circuits;
• Increasing remote capability and control through EnergizeNJ;
• Upgrading transmission assets with a focus on long-term reliability and capacity planning;
• Continuing energy efficiency commitments to help meet state goals and customer needs.

Tree Trimming & Removal: Addressing a Leading Cause of Outages
Trees remain a leading cause of power outages in JCP&L's 3,200-square-mile service territory.

With additional funding to trim vegetation and remove dead and diseased ash trees, the proposal gives the company more ability to mitigate hazard trees before they can cause service interruptions.

• Ash trees, which have been decimated by the Emerald Ash Borer, have been responsible for 60% of tree-related outages since 2020.
• JCP&L has already removed more than 74,000 dead or diseased ash trees since 2017.

Managing Energy Bills
Comprehensive programs can help customers manage their energy bills:

• Whole home energy solutions, HVAC and appliance rebates, energy saving rewards and more are part of JCP&L's energy efficiency program. Visit https://www.firstenergycorp.com/save_energy.html for more information.
• Payment assistance programs are available for qualifying customers. For more information and special arrangements, visit https://www.firstenergycorp.com/billassist.
• JCP&L has proposed a no-risk time-of-use rate trial that would reward customers who use power during lower cost, off-peak periods.

JCP&L, a FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) electric company, serves 1.2 million customers in the counties of Burlington, Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren. Follow JCP&L on X @JCP_L, on Facebook at facebook.com/JCPandL or online at jcp-l.com. 

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. Visit FirstEnergy online at firstenergycorp.com and follow FirstEnergy on X @FirstEnergyCorp. 

Forward Looking Statements:
This press release includes forward-looking statements based on information currently available to management unless the context requires otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our" and "FirstEnergy" refers to FirstEnergy Corp. and its subsidiaries. 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. 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changes in assumptions regarding factors such as economic conditions within our territories, the reliability of our transmission and distribution system, our generation resource planning in West Virginia, or the availability of capital or other resources supporting identified transmission and distribution investment opportunities; 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 environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, federal and state rules related to climate change, coal combustion residuals, and potential changes to such laws and regulations; changes in customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, economic conditions, development of data centers, the impact of climate change and emerging technology, particularly with respect to electrification, energy storage, co-location of generation and large loads, and distributed sources of generation; 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; 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; changes to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, as signed into law on July 4, 2025, or adverse tax audit results or rulings and potential changes to such laws and regulations; the ability to meet our publicly-disclosed goals relating to climate-related matters, opportunities, improvements, and efficiencies, including FirstEnergy's greenhouse gas reduction goals; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in FirstEnergy Corp.'s SEC filings. 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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.