Company history

FirstEnergy was formed in 1997 through the merger of Ohio Edison Company and its subsidiary, Pennsylvania Power Company, with Centerior Energy Corp. and its subsidiaries, The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and The Toledo Edison Company. Through this merger, FirstEnergy became the 11th largest investor-owned electric system in the nation, based on annual electric sales of 64 billion kilowatt-hours, and had combined assets of nearly $20 billion. The new Company employed some 10,000 employees, serving 2.1 million customers within 13,200 square miles of northern and central Ohio and western Pennsylvania. FirstEnergy had 11,681 megawatts of generating capacity and 57 transmission interconnections with 8 electric systems.

FirstEnergy nearly doubled its revenue to more than $12 billion and customers served to more than 4.3 million when it merged with GPU, Inc., based in Morristown, New Jersey, in 2001, through the purchase of its outstanding common stock. The former GPU served 2.1 million customers in a 24,000 square-mile service area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey through its three operating companies: Metropolitan Edison Company, Pennsylvania Electric Company, and Jersey Central Power & Light Company.

(02/27/08)