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As reported previously, on November 19, 2025, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) issued two separate orders including an Order & Opinion  in a bifurcated portion of this proceeding that did not involve passage of Am. Sub. H.B. 6 bribery related matters, the Commission found that Ohio Edison Company, The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, and The Toledo Edison Company have engaged in a pattern of non-compliance with R.C. 4928.17 and Ohio Adm.Code 4901:1-37. Accordingly, the Commission found it appropriate to assess a forfeiture in the amount of $23,360,000 for the violations of Ohio corporate separation laws that have been discovered in the two audits.

Excerpts from the Settlement:

“This Stipulation and Recommendation (“Settlement”) provides for approximately $275 million in restitution and other benefits for consumers of the Ohio Edison Company, The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, and The Toledo Edison Company (together, the “Companies”), and an additional $5 million in restitution to competitive suppliers. It fully resolves the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s (“Commission”) four investigations into the Companies’ conduct in the passage of Am. Sub. H.B. 6 and the subsequent referendum effort (“Investigation Matters”) in consumers’ interest, and additional complaints (the “Settled Complaints”),2 so that the Commission, the Companies, and the other parties can move forward.”

As further background, on November 19, 2025, after extensive hearings, the Commission issued two orders (“Orders”) concerning the Companies’ compliance with corporate separation requirements (Case No. 17-974-EL-UNC), the Distribution Modernization Rider (“Rider DMR”) (Case No. 17-2474-EL-RDR), and the Delivery Capital Recovery Rider (“Rider DCR”) (Case No. 20-1629-EL-RDR). The Orders directed the Companies to pay approximately $250.7 million in restitution and other monetary remedies, including refunds to consumers of $6.64 million with interest, restitution to consumers of $179.99 million, and forfeitures to the State of Ohio of $64.07 million. To increase the amounts that will directly reach consumers, and to reach closure on the issues addressed in the Orders and the other issues addressed in this Settlement, the parties came together in a series of open, transparent, and inclusive settlement discussions. This Settlement is the result of those discussions, and includes the following major provisions replacing the monetary remedies directed in the Orders to provide greater monetary remedies directed exclusively to consumers, while bringing the Commission’s extensive five-year investigations to an end: 

1. The Companies will pay to consumers the increased amount of $280,699,844 in total restitution as follows: 
2. $269,060,505 in restitution to consumers through bill credits ($249,060,505) and targeted low-income programs ($20,000,000) as compensation for injuries caused by the violations found in the Investigation Matters and described by the Commission in its Orders; 
3. $6,639,339, plus additional principal and interest at a rate of 6.54% (approx. $6.2 million), in restitution to consumers through refunds as compensation for improper charges as identified in the Blue Ridge Expanded Scope Audit Report and as found in the Commission’s Consolidated Order ¶¶ 101, 243; and
4. $5 million to the Retail Energy Supply Association (“RESA”) as restitution to competitors for injuries caused by corporate separation violations, as set forth in paragraph (E), below.
5. Neither FirstEnergy Corp., nor any of its affiliates, including the Companies, will offer competitive retail electric service in Ohio within five years of the Commission’s approval of this Settlement. 
6. The Signatory Parties agree to fully release and waive all claims they may have related to the subjects of the Investigation Matters and the Settled Complaints. Notwithstanding this release, however, if the Companies identify additional impacts on rates paid by consumers related to the misconduct identified in the FirstEnergy Corp. Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”), the Companies commit to return those amounts to the appropriate parties. 
7. Neither FirstEnergy Corp., nor any of its affiliates, including the Companies, will seek to recover the amount of any of the above payments from consumers in rates, riders, or other current or future rate mechanisms, and further will not record a regulatory asset or otherwise make any accounting entry to offset those amounts for regulatory purposes. 
8. The Companies will request Commission permission to withdraw their pending pole attachment rate applications (Case Nos. 25-1033-EL-ATA, 25-1034-EL-ATA, and 25- 1035-EL-ATA) and refile them in 2026, and to confer with the Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association (“OCTA”) prior to refiling. The Companies will further review their historical pole attachment billings to ensure compliance with tariff approvals and rental periods and meet with OCTA in good faith on other topics.

The Settlement otherwise does not affect the findings in the Commission’s Orders and protects the Orders against the risk of appeals.

“[T]he Signatory Parties respectfully request that the Commission act expeditiously in approving this Settlement without modification.”

Signatory Parties Include: 

• The Office of the Ohio Consumer Counsel
• The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association Energy Group 
• Ohio Energy Group Northeast Ohio 
• Public Energy Council Northwest Ohio 
• Aggregation Coalition Ohio 
• Environmental Council Ohio 
• Partners for Affordable Energy 
• Retail Energy Supply Association 
• Interstate Gas Supply, LLC 
• Direct Energy Services, LLC and Direct Energy Business, LLC 
• Citizens’ Utility Board of Ohio 
• Natural Resources Defense Council 
• Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association 
• Ohio Edison Company The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company The Toledo Edison Company

Note that Staff takes no position on the settlement.

Stipulation and Recommendation  (12/19/2025)
Order & Opinion  (11/19/2025)
2021 PUCO audit  (11/19/2025)
20-1502-EL-UNC
(In The Matter Of The Review Of The Political And Charitable Spending By Ohio Edison Company, The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, And The Toledo Company) 

See also:  17-974-EL-UNC and 20-1629-EL-RDR.