FirstEnergy’s CEO wasted little time during the company’s Friday quarterly earnings conference call with investors to address the elephant in the room.
It was just three minutes into the previously scheduled conference call that FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Charles Jones addressed the federal investigation into possible bribes paid to pass legislation benefiting its former subsidiary, FirstEnergy Solutions.
Jones defended the company’s actions saying high ethical standards are a bedrock of its core values.
Questions from stock market analysts about the investigation also dominated the question and answer session.
“This is a grave and disturbing situation,” Jones said.
Jones acknowledges the company is now subject to a federal subpoena and plans to fully cooperate with the investigation.
He added that he “has no worries” that he or the parent company acted improperly in the campaign.
Jones pointed out that FirstEnergy is no longer in the electric generation business in Ohio and has no financial benefit to the pair of nuclear plants still operating other than the retention of Ohio jobs and the power they supply to the electrical grid.
On Thursday night, the company’s earnings report stated: “We intend to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice investigation involving the Ohio Speaker of the House, and we will ensure our company’s involvement in supporting HB 6 is understood as accurately as possible,” Jones said. “I believe that FirstEnergy acted ethically in this matter. At no time did our support for Ohio’s nuclear plants interfere with or supersede our ethical obligations to conduct our business properly. I believe the facts will become clear as the investigation progresses.”
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Background
A bribery and racketeering scandal was disclosed Tuesday involving Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder that was allegedly funded in part by FirstEnergy Corp.
Householder and along with four others were arrested and charged in a racketeering conspiracy after allegedly taking $60 million from FirstEnergy.
The scheme involved a bill passed in 2019 that would save a pair of FirstEnergy Solutions’ nuclear power plants in Ohio from closure by giving them more than $1 billion paid for through a surcharge on electric customers starting Jan. 1, 2021. The law also reduced incentives for renewable energy.
The subsidiary is now known by Energy Harbor.
An 81-page federal complaint released Tuesday detailed allegations of how FirstEnergy Corp., listed as “Company A,” used an “Energy Pass-Through” to funnel millions to Householder’s dark money group Generation Now.
Generation Now then supported Householder-aligned House candidates, the passage of House Bill 6 and efforts to block a referendum to overturn the bill.
There is a move in the statehouse in Columbus to repeal the bill.
This report was provided by the Akron Beacon Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
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