Ohio utility FirstEnergy has agreed to provide $275 million to customers in a deal that would end state investigations into the company’s role in an energy legislation bribery scandal.
The settlement — made with more than a dozen parties, including Ohio’s consumer advocate — still needs approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). It would return $250 million to customers of three FirstEnergy utilities in the state, as well as provide $25 million for low-income bill assistance and other programs aimed at residential customers.
The deal would end all pending commission probes examining the utility’s actions to help pass H.B. 6 and how the company benefited from it.
Akron-based FirstEnergy admitted to prosecutors in 2021 that it paid millions of dollars in a bribery scheme to pass H.B. 6, which included a bailout of the utility’s former nuclear plants. Much of the law has been repealed, but various civil and criminal cases remain ongoing.
