Dive Brief:
- Residential customers won't have to pay a planned $5-15 surcharge proposed by FirstEnergy Solutions to help the company cover its high winter fuel costs.
- The charge, which was massively unpopular, will still apply to business customers. They will be expected to pay up to 3% of their annual bill as a one-off fee.
- The move came after a number of residential customers in the six states served by the company complained the charge was "unfair," attracting the attention of regulators.
Dive Insight:
FirstEnergy was the only utility to announce this kind of one-off charge to help cover costs incurred during the extreme cold of last winter. There is a clause written into customer contracts that gives the utility the power to charge a one-off fee to cover this kind of event. Customers that complained said they were unaware of the provision.
"It was a very difficult winter, particularly for residential customers, and hopefully waiving the surcharge will make it somewhat easier," said Donald Schneider, president of FirstEnergy Solutions.
Some utilities experienced a strong first quarter performance that saw high electric sales volumes due, in part, to the record cold.