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FirstEnergy 1Q Profit Drops 58 Percent

The Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — FirstEnergy Corp. on Tuesday reported a 58 percent decline in first-quarter profits and cited heavy regulatory charges.

Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy said it earned $115 million, or 39 cents per share, on revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter that ended March 31, down from first-quarter 2008 earnings of $277 million, or 90 cents a share, on revenue of $3.27 billion.

Excluding special items, the company earned $1.01 per share, beating the Wall Street expectation of 89 cents of analysts in a Thomson Reuters survey.

FirstEnergy reported charges that were linked to the electric power company's complicated set of adjustments to regulatory changes in Ohio during the quarter. Its Ohio companies are Toledo Edison, Ohio Edison and Cleveland Electric Illuminating.

FirstEnergy took a write-off of $216 million for Cleveland Electric alone for regulatory charges.

While revenue overall was slightly up, FirstEnergy had higher wholesale sales versus lower retail sales. Electric distribution deliveries were down 7 percent, driven mostly by a lower industrial load and a slightly lower commercial load.

"While we achieved solid financial and operational results during the first quarter, we continue to face significant challenges related to the slowing economy throughout our region and its effect on electricity sales," said Anthony J. Alexander, president and chief executive officer of FirstEnergy.

In the remainder of this year, FirstEnergy faces planned outages, environmental spending and participation in a competitive bidding process in Ohio, he said.

FirstEnergy is the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system, with 4.5 million customers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

FirstEnergy shares fell 31 cents to $42.09 Tuesday.

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On the Net: http://www.firstenergycorp.com