April 10, 2020

​FirstEnergy subsidiary Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) has entered into an agreement to sell its 50% interest in the 420-megawatt Yards Creek pumped-storage hydro plant, located in Blairstown, N.J. JCP&L operates the plant, and its portion of the facility is fully regulated.

Under the terms of the agreement, JCP&L would sell its interest to a subsidiary of New York-based LS Power Equity Partners III, LP (LS Power). The 10 FirstEnergy employees at Yards Creek will be offered employment with the new owner.

The transaction is subject to approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and other agencies. The sale is expected to be completed in the first half of 2021.

LS Power recently reached an agreement with PSEG Fossil LLC to purchase the other 50% interest in the plant. PSEG’s interest is unregulated.

Upon completion of the sale, FirstEnergy’s subsidiaries will control 3,560 megawatts of regulated scrubbed coal and hydro facilities in West Virginia and Virginia.

“This agreement is the result of a unique circumstance, with a buyer approaching us with an offer that after evaluation was determined to be in the best financial interests of our customers and our company,” said Dan Rossero, vice president, FE Fleet Operations. “It in no way reflects on FirstEnergy’s continuing commitment to regulated generation.”

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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, which may include the following: the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (known as COVID-19) and the impact on our business, which will depend on future developments that are not known, and cannot be predicted at this time; the ability to successfully execute an exit from commodity-based generation, including, without limitation, mitigating exposure for remedial activities associated with formerly owned generation assets; the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and financial goals, including, but not limited to, our strategy to operate and grow as a fully regulated business, to execute our transmission and distribution investment plans, to continue to reduce costs, and to improve our credit metrics, strengthen our balance sheet and grow earnings; legislative and regulatory developments, including, but not limited to, matters related to rates, compliance and enforcement activity; economic and weather conditions affecting future operating results, such as significant weather events and other natural disasters, and associated regulatory events or actions; changes in assumptions regarding economic conditions within our territories, the reliability of our transmission and distribution system, or the availability of capital or other resources supporting identified transmission and distribution investment opportunities; changes in customers’ demand for power, including, but not limited to, the impact of climate change or energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes in national and regional economic conditions affecting us and/or our major industrial and commercial customers or others with which we do business; the risks associated with cyber-attacks and other disruptions to our information technology system, which may compromise our operations, and data security breaches of sensitive data, intellectual property and proprietary or personally identifiable information; the ability to comply with applicable reliability standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes to environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, those related to climate change; changing market conditions affecting the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of assets held in our pension trusts and other trust funds, or causing us to make contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger, than currently anticipated; the risks associated with the decommissioning of our retired and former nuclear facilities; the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and like proceedings; labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; changes to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws or regulations, or adverse tax audit results or rulings; the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with our financial plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting us, including the increasing number of financial institutions evaluating the impact of climate change on their investment decisions; actions that may be taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect either our access to or terms of financing or our financial condition and liquidity; the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, filings and other similar factors. Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy Corp.’s common stock during any period may in the aggregate vary from prior periods due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy Corp.’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 factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements and risks that are included in our filings with the SEC, including but not limited to the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The foregoing review of factors also should not be construed as exhaustive. 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