Editorial: Does FirstEnergy have too much power?

Utility bills are the kind of thing that can feel a little like extortion.

You can’t just tell your water company you have found another option and to please dig up their pipes. Sewer service isn’t exactly the kind of thing you can shop around for and find the best deal.

But electricity might be the thing that holds you over a barrel more than anything else. You can’t respond to a rate increase the way you would with a higher cable or cellular bill — calling customer service to scale back your package of services. Your options are on or off.

All of which is hard to take under normal circumstances. If you’re thinking about the cost of your electricity, you might think about the coal that fires the generators and the salaries of the workers fixing the lines.

What do you think when you hear about bribery?

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors said FirstEnergy Corp. paid more than $60 million in bribe money for a push to bail out nuclear power plants in Ohio. The state’s Speaker of the House Larry Householder, four other individuals and the group Generation Now were indicted in the case.

FirstEnergy was not indicted, but according to Cleveland.com, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio David DeVillers used careful language at his press conference, saying “no one from that company has of yet been charged.”

The nuclear bailout issue was on the table in Pennsylvania, too. Exelon Corp., the other major nuclear electric producer, closed Three Mile Island Unit 1 in 2019 after efforts to get the state Legislature to approve a financial lifeline failed.

So if Akron-based FirstEnergy — parent of West Penn Power, Penelec, Penn Power and Med-Ed — was willing to spend $60 million on the bailout in Ohio, what did they spend on the attempt in Pennsylvania? It’s hard to tell, as that massive outlay in Ohio doesn’t show up in listed activity.

OpenSecrets.org does note FirstEnergy’s 2018 lobbying was its highest in 20 years but shows only $3.1 million in lobbying expenses for 2018 and $1.98 million in 2019 — nowhere near the federal indictment’s numbers.

Does all that money mean customers will end up footing the bill — whether for illegal bribery or legal lobbying?

According to acting Pennsylvania Consumer Advocate Tanya McCloskey, the answer is no.

“ ‘Lobbying’ expenses (by a utility) are not recoverable from the ratepayers,” she said, adding that a “very detailed review” happens before any request for an increase is approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission.

Unfortunately, it isn’t up to those ratepayers to decide for themselves whether FirstEnergy is the kind of company they want to patronize or not. Even if you choose a different supplier for your electricity, a FirstEnergy company still could be the utility that gets that electricity through the lines and into your home.

That’s something the Pennsylvania Legislature could address. People need more control when they are paying their bills. They need to be real customers, not a commodity.

Because bad things can happen when any one company has too much power.