More Than $228M Will Be Invested In 2014 In The Penelec Area To Enhance And Maintain Electric System And Reliability

Company Increases Investment in Infrastructure Projects Designed to Help Reduce Number and Duration of Outages

Reading, PA /PRNewswire/ - As part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen the durability and flexibility of its electric system, FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) plans to invest $228 million in 2014 in service reliability infrastructure upgrades in its Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) 31-county service territory. This represents about a $66 million increase compared to what the company invested in similar infrastructure projects in the region last year.

Major projects scheduled for this year include building new or upgrading 142 existing distribution circuits, ongoing tree trimming programs, and inspecting and replacing utility poles. In addition, other projects will include the installation of automated and remote control devices designed to enhance Penelec's electric system and reliability.

"The planned infrastructure projects are designed to help maintain our system on a day-to-day basis to benefit Penelec customers now while helping to prepare our system for future load growth," said Scott Wyman, regional president of Penelec. "Whether it's upgrading existing circuits, installing equipment that can be operated remotely, or investing in vegetation management, our ultimate goal is to continue to enhance the reliability of our system to benefit our customers."

Of FirstEnergy's $228 million infrastructure investment in the region for 2014, about $49 million will be for transmission-related projects built and owned by Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Company, a FirstEnergy transmission affiliate.

The scheduled projects include:

Upgrading distribution circuit equipment by installing new sectionalizing devices, such as fuses and reclosers, to help limit the scope of outages across the entire Penelec service territory. The cost of this project is approximately $5.6 million.

Installing radio controlled switches that can be operated remotely from the company dispatch center, giving our system operators the ability to restore power quickly and efficiently.

Installing equipment to help maintain proper voltage levels. This is expected to benefit Penelec's industrial and large commercial customers that operate large motors, drives and other machinery.

Inspecting about 41,000 utility poles and making replacements, as needed. This inspection process is conducted on a 12-year cycle. Inspections began in January, with replacement work scheduled to be completed throughout the fall.

Investing approximately $23.6 million as part of Penelec's ongoing tree trimming program to help maintain proper clearances and protect against tree-related storm damage. Trees are the leading cause of power outages inPennsylvania.

Penelec serves approximately 600,000 customers in 31 Pennsylvania counties. Visit FirstEnergy on the web atwww.firstenergycorp.com, and follow Penelec on Twitter @Penelec.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York.

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," "will," "intend," "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, in general, and the retail sales market in particular; the impact of the regulatory process on the pending matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and in the various states in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related to rates and pending rate cases; the uncertainties of various cost recovery and cost allocation issues resulting from American Transmission Systems, Incorporated's realignment into PJM Interconnection LLC; economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins; regulatory outcomes associated with storm restoration, including but not limited to Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm of 2011; changing energy, capacity and commodity market prices including, but not limited to, coal, natural gas and oil, and availability and their impact on retail margins; the continued ability of our regulated utilities to recover their costs; costs being higher than anticipated and the success of our policies to control costs and to mitigate low energy, capacity and market prices; other legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements, including possible greenhouse gas emission, water discharge, water intake and coal combustion residual regulations, the potential impacts of Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), and/or any laws, rules or regulations that ultimately replace CAIR, and the effects of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rules including our estimated costs of compliance; the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any litigation, including New Source Review litigation or potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such expenditures could result in our decision to deactivate or idle certain generating units); the uncertainties associated with the deactivation of certain older regulated and competitive fossil units including the impact on vendor commitments, and the timing thereof as they relate to, among other things, Reliability Must-Run arrangements and the reliability of the transmission grid; 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 Nuclear Regulatory Commission or as a result of the incident atJapan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant); issues arising from the indications of cracking in the shield building at Davis-Besse; the impact of future changes to the operational status or availability of our generating units; the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and like proceedings, including, but not limited to, any such proceedings related to vendor commitments; replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or not fully hedged; the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes in customers' demand for power, including but not limited to, changes resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and financial goals including, but not limited to, the successful implementation of our transmission plan, the ability to reduce costs and to successfully complete our announced financial plans designed to improve our credit metrics and strengthen our balance sheet, including but not limited to, the benefits from our announced dividend reduction and our proposed capital raising and debt reduction initiatives; our ability to improve electric commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of fuel and fuel transportation on such margins; the ability to experience growth in the Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments and to continue to successfully implement our direct retail sales strategy in the Competitive Energy Services segment; changing market conditions that could affect the measurement of liabilities and the value of assets held in our Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause us and our subsidiaries to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated; the impact of changes to material accounting policies; the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with our announced financial plan, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting us and our subsidiaries; actions that may be taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect us and our subsidiaries' access to financing, increase the costs thereof, and increase requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and other financial guarantees; changes in national and regional economic conditions affecting us, our subsidiaries and our major industrial and commercial customers, and other counterparties including fuel suppliers, with which we do business; issues concerning the stability of domestic and foreign financial institutions and counterparties with which we do business; the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar factors. 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, except as required by law, any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.