Dear blog readers:

This RFP is seeking SRECs for FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities for 2011. The SRECs being solicited include:

• Solar from Ohio-certified generation facilities, and
• Solar from certified SREC generation facilities in states contiguous to Ohio --that includes Indiana!

Laura Ann Arnold

AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) announced that a Request for Proposal (RFP) will be conducted to secure Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) for customers of its Ohio utilities - Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison - to help meet the renewable energy requirements established under Ohio's energy law.

SRECs represent the environmental attributes of solar renewable electricity generation. For every megawatt hour of solar renewable electricity generated, an equivalent amount of SRECs are produced.

"Purchasing SRECs helps us meet the renewable energy requirements established by the State of Ohio and also helps build a market for renewable energy projects throughout the region," said John Dargie, vice president, Energy Efficiency, FirstEnergy.

The RFP is seeking SRECs for FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities for 2011. The SRECs being solicited include:

Solar from Ohio-certified generation facilities, and
Solar from certified SREC generation facilities in states contiguous to Ohio [emphasis added]

No energy or capacity will be purchased under the RFP. The number of individual bidders is not limited. Participants must meet and maintain specific credit and security qualifications, and must be able to prove their SRECs are certified or in the process of becoming certified by the State of Ohio.

The companies established a website to provide bidders with a central source of documents, data and other information for the RFP process. This information is available by accessing www.firstenergycorp.com/OH2011RECRFP2 . Questions will be answered directly through the website. To participate in the RFP, bidders must submit credit information by August 19, 2011, with proposals due by August 29, 2011.

The RFP process will be managed by Navigant Consulting, a global consulting firm with expertise in energy markets and procurement. The RFP Manager is Dan Bradley, Director, Navigant Consulting. He can be reached at (516) 876-4036, or email atrfp@navigant.com.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its ten electric distribution companies comprise the nation's largest investor-owned electric system. Its diverse generating fleet features non-emitting nuclear, scrubbed baseload coal, natural gas, and pumped-storage hydro and other renewables, and has a total generating capacity of more than 23,000 megawatts.

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 include declarations regarding management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "believe," "estimate" and similar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to: the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry, the impact of the regulatory process on the pending matters in the various states in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related to rates, the status of the PATH project in light of PJM's direction to suspend work on the project pending review of its planning process, its re-evaluation of the need for the project and the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of any related capital expenditures, business and regulatory impacts from ATSI's realignment into PJM Interconnection, L.L.C, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy and commodity market prices and availability, financial derivative reforms that could increase our liquidity needs and collateral costs, the continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulated utilities to collect transition and other costs, operation and maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, other legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements, including possible GHG emission, water intake and coal combustion residual regulations, the potential impacts of any laws, rules or regulations that ultimately replace CAIR including the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the effects of the EPA's recently released MACT proposal to establish certain mercury and other emission standards for electric generating units, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any NSR litigation or potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such expenditures could result in our decision to shut down or idle certain generating units), adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes with respect to our nuclear operations (including, but not limited to, the revocation or non-renewal of necessary licenses, approvals or operating permits by the NRC, including as a result of the incident atJapan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant), adverse legal decisions and outcomes related to Met-Ed's and Penelec's ability to recover certain transmission costs through their transmission service charge riders, the continuing availability of generating units and changes in their ability to operate at or near full capacity, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency mandates, changes in customers' demand for power, including but not limited to, changes resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy efficiency mandates, the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals, efforts, and our ability, to improve electric commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of coal and coal transportation on such margins, the ability to experience growth in the distribution business, the changing market conditions that could affect the value of assets held in FirstEnergy's nuclear decommissioning trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause FirstEnergy to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated, the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with FirstEnergy's financing plan, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries, changes in general economic conditions affecting FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries, interest rates and any actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect FirstEnergy's and its subsidiaries' access to financing or their costs and increase requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, LOCs and other financial guarantees, the continuing uncertainty of the national and regional economy and its impact on the major industrial and commercial customers of FirstEnergy's subsidiaries, issues concerning the soundness of financial institutions and counterparties with which FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries do business, issues arising from the recently completed merger of FirstEnergy and Allegheny Energy, Inc. and the ongoing coordination of their combined operations including FirstEnergy's ability to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers, as well as the ability to successfully integrate the businesses and realize cost savings and any other synergies and the risk that the credit ratings of the combined company or its subsidiaries may be different from what the companies expect, the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in FirstEnergy's and its applicable subsidiaries' SEC filings, and other similar factors. Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy's common stock during any annual period may in aggregate vary from the indicated amount due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy's Board of Directors at the time of the actual declarations. A security rating is not a recommendation to buy, or hold securities and is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating agency. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating. The foregoing review of factors should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. 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.

This communication is from Navigant Consulting Inc. E-mail text or attachments may contain information which is confidential and may also be privileged. This communication is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this communication in error, please return it with the title "received in error" to NCISecurity@navigant.com, and then delete the email and destroy any copies of it. In addition, this communication is subject to, and incorporates by reference, additional disclaimers found in Navigant Consulting's "Email Disclaimer" section at www.Navigant.com.

Navigant

Consulting, Inc.
Company Registration Number: UK Ltd. 3641719
Registered in Delaware, USA
Registered Office Address: 30 South Wacker Drive,  Suite 3400, Chicago, Illinois 60606