FirstEnergy Agrees to $306M Refund to Ohio Customers
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What Residential Customers Can Expect
Good news for FirstEnergy customers! After a year of back and forth with courts, hearings, and controversy, Akron-based FirstEnergy will be giving you a refund! The company has agreed to give around $306 million in customer refunds over the next five years. On the other hand, over five years, the refund may not seem a huge relief in your bills. Let's break down how much FirstEnergy is actually refunding to its residential customers. We'll also dig into how this affects your future bills.
Did Someone Say FirstEnergy Refund?
At issue was whether the FirstEnergy had made excessive profits over the course of 2017-2019. It appears that a combination of laws being enacted and then repealed made that seem likely. But while utilities can make profits, there's no law that spells out what "excessive profits" are. In the settlement filing with the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel, FirstEnergy agreed that it had collected “significantly excessive profits”. As a result, the company and its three subsidiaries must refund 52.6% of their profits from these years over the next six months. This works out to about $50.8 million dollars in refunds to residential customers and $45.3 million to non-residential customers. Additionally, customers will see $210 million in bill reductions over the next 4 years. This brings us to that $306 million refund total.What Can Residential Customers Expect To Get?
With all those big numbers, it can certainly be easy to expect a huge payday. Unfortunately, don’t expect this refund to pay your electric bill for the next year. In Ohio, FirstEnergy's subsidiaries serves about a million customers. So, there's a lot of people getting refunds. As a result, most residential customers will only see about $85 total in refunds and reductions. Once approved by the PUCO, residential customers will receive the first $29 refund within the first 30 days. Afterwards, customers can expect a diminishing reduction in their electricity bills through 2025.
What About Future Bills?
Though this new FirstEnergy refund is welcome, the $29 won't last forever. With winter electricity prices rising, you may be asking how to save money. After all, you want to get the best deal you can. Even FirstEnergy recently encouraged customers to shop around for a better price on their electricity! Now is the perfect time to lock in a fixed rate before the cold, wet of this winter sets in. So, are you looking for a great rate for your area? Ohio Energy Ratings has the best prices and deals for wherever you’re looking. So look around! Find that perfect rate for your home at www.ohenergyratings.com.
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