FirstEnergy Senior Vice President and General Counsel Leila L. Vespoli Addresses...

FirstEnergy Senior Vice President and General Counsel Leila L. VespoliAddresses Ohio House on Proposed Energy PolicyAKRON, Ohio, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Leila L. Vespoli, seniorvice president and general counsel for FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), todaytestified before the Ohio House of Representatives' Public Utilities andEnergy Committee on Substitute Senate Bill 221 (Sub. SB 221), which outlines aprocess for establishing electricity prices beginning in 2009.

In her remarks, Ms. Vespoli summarized the electric utility industry'sconcerns that the bill does not offer a true hybrid approach - a criticalselling point of the Strickland administration's proposed energy policy - inthat it does not provide the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (Commission)with adequate statutory authority to continue the success of rate-stabilization-type plans or to offer customers the benefits of a competitivemarketplace. She also pointed out that the bill legislatively preserves verylow, subsidized rates for large industrial customers.Ms. Vespoli noted that rate plans work when coupled with competitiveoptions for customers. "We continue to believe that competitive markets willdeliver the best prices for customers over the long-term; will continue todrive innovation, efficiency and productivity for our company and for theindustry; and will offer the kinds of products and services customers want -including green products," Ms. Vespoli said.Ms. Vespoli provided an open letter from several prominent economists -including Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Paul Joskow, Alfred Kahnfrom Cornell University and Nobel laureate Vernon Smith from George MasonUniversity - on the many benefits of competitive markets and urgedpolicymakers to ensure that customers would have access to those benefitsunder Sub. SB 221.

"In effect, if we fail to preserve the market-based option for utilitiesand customers, we create a number of legal problems that won't easily orquickly be resolved," said Ms. Vespoli. "In order to avoid such an outcomeand achieve the desired hybrid approach, the bill should be modified toprovide the Commission with clear statutory authority to negotiate ESPs

(Electric Security Plans), coupled with a true market rate option. Together,these two components will achieve the balanced negotiation process that hassucceeded in the past."

A complete text of Ms. Vespoli's testimony is available on FirstEnergy'sWeb site, www.firstenergycorp.com.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio.Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmissionand distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and otherenergy-related services. Its seven electric utility operating companiescomprise the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system, based on4.5 million customers served within a 36,100-square-mile area of Ohio,Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and its generation subsidiaries control more than14,000 megawatts of capacity.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-lookingstatements based on information currently available to management. Suchstatements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. These statementsinclude declarations regarding our, or our management's, intents, beliefs andcurrent expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limitedto, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "believe," "estimate" andsimilar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions,known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause ouractual results, performance or achievements to be materially different fromany future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by suchforward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to thespeed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry andlegislative and regulatory changes affecting how generation rates will bedetermined following the expiration of existing rate plans in Ohio andPennsylvania, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales andmargins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy and commoditymarket prices, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated orinadequately hedged, the continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulatedutilities to collect transition and other charges or to recover increasedtransmission costs, maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, otherlegislative and regulatory changes including revised environmentalrequirements, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capitalexpenditures needed to, among other things, implement the Air QualityCompliance Plan (including that such amounts could be higher than anticipated)or levels of emission reductions related to the Consent Decree resolving theNew Source Review litigation or other potential regulatory initiatives,adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes (including, but not limitedto, the revocation of necessary licenses or operating permits and oversight bythe Nuclear Regulatory Commission including, but not limited to, the Demandfor Information issued to FENOC on May 14, 2007) as disclosed in our SECfilings, the timing and outcome of various proceedings before the PUCO

(including, but not limited to, the Distribution Rate Cases and the generationsupply plan filing for the Ohio Companies and the successful resolution of theissues remanded to the PUCO by the Supreme Court of Ohio regarding the RateStabilization Plan and the Rate Certainty Plan, including the deferral of fuelcosts) and the PPUC (including the resolution of the Petitions for Reviewfiled with the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania with respect to thetransition rate plan for Met-Ed and Penelec, the continuing availability ofgenerating units and their ability to continue to operate at or near fullcapacity, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliabilitystandards, the inability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits fromstrategic goals (including employee workforce initiatives), the ability toimprove electric commodity margins and to experience growth in thedistribution business, the ability to access the public securities and othercapital markets and the cost of such capital, the outcome, cost and othereffects of present and potential legal and administrative proceedings andclaims related to the August 14, 2003 regional power outage, the risks andother factors discussed from time to time in our SEC filings, and othersimilar factors. The foregoing review of factors should not be construed asexhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible forus to predict all such factors, nor can we assess the impact of any suchfactor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination offactors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in anyforward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any current intention toupdate any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of newinformation, future events, or otherwise.SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.Media, Ellen Raines, +1-330-384-5808, or Investors, Ronald Seeholzer,+1-330-384-5783, both of FirstEnergy Corp.