AKRON, Ohio, Sept 22, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall

 

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) has sent 133 employees -- including 38 line crews -- to Texas to help restore electric service to customers of American Electric Power (AEP) who may be affected by Hurricane Rita.

The FirstEnergy two-man crews include: 10 crews from The Illuminating Company; 10 crews from Toledo Edison; 9 crews from Pennsylvania Electric Company; and 9 crews from Metropolitan Edison. In addition to the linemen, other company personnel include mechanics, supply specialists, managers, and damage assessors. It is anticipated that some FirstEnergy personnel will begin arriving in Texas as early as Friday evening.

Earlier this month, 95 FirstEnergy employees helped restore electrical service to those affected by Hurricane Katrina in the Miami, Florida, and Jackson, Mississippi, areas. FirstEnergy is a member of a mutual assistance group of electric utilities that help each other with major restoration projects.

"For the second time in less than a month utilities in the Gulf area are facing the potential for large-scale power outages caused by hurricane damage. Once again, our employees are proud to offer their assistance in what is likely to be a massive power restoration effort," said Chuck Jones, FirstEnergy's senior vice president of Energy Delivery and Customer Service.

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 electric system, based on 4.4 million customers served within a 36,100 square-mile area of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

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 typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "believe," "estimate" and similar words. Actual results may differ materially due to the speed and nature of increased competition and deregulation in the electric utility industry, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy and commodity market prices, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the continued ability of our regulated utilities to collect transition and other charges, maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, legislative and regulatory changes (including revised environmental requirements), the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures (including that such amounts could be higher than anticipated) or levels of emission reductions related to the settlement agreement resolving the New Source Review litigation, adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes (including, but not limited to, the revocation of necessary licenses or operating permits, fines or other enforcement actions and remedies) of governmental investigations and oversight, including by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Attorney's Office and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as disclosed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, generally, and with respect to the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station outage and heightened scrutiny at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in particular, the availability and cost of capital, the continuing availability and operation of generating units, the ability of our generating units to continue to operate at or near full capacity, our inability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals, our ability to improve electric commodity margins and to experience growth in the distribution business, our ability to access the public securities and other capital markets, the outcome, cost and other effects of present and potential legal and administrative proceedings and claims related to the August 14, 2003 regional power outage, the final outcome in the proceeding related to FirstEnergy's Application for a Rate Stabilization Plan (RSP) in Ohio, including, but not limited to, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's acceptance of the September 9, 2005 proposed supplement to the RSP, the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar factors. 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.

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