COLUMBUS — State regulators rejected a request by FirstEnergy to lower electric reliability standards for hundreds of thousands of customers in northern and western Ohio, including those in the Mahoning Valley.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, also known as the PUCO, issued an official order Wednesday that keeps current electricity standards in place. The regulatory decision directly affects customers of Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., and Toledo Edison. State regulators also directed the parent utility company to file a completely new application for its reliability standards within the next four years.
FirstEnergy defended its request, stating that its proposal did not represent any change in its actual operating procedures or any plan to reduce service reliability. FirstEnergy argued that its commitment to restore service as quickly and as safely as possible remains unchanged. The company noted that it did not choose to file the request on its own but was required to do so by a prior regulatory settlement…