FirstEnergy Revises Filings

Ohio utility FirstEnergy Corp., whose transmission lines have been cited as a possible factor in the massive Aug. 14 blackout, Thursday revised three regulatory filings, citing tens of millions of dollars in “typographical and minor computational errors.”

The Akron, Ohio, company, which owns electric utilities in three states, amended Securities and Exchange Commission filings containing its quarterly reports for the first and second quarters of this year and its annual report for 2002.

One item, revenue from regulated services for the second quarter, was revised to $2.45 billion from $2.34 billion, an increase of $109 million.

A spokeswoman blamed the many errors on the two-week time frame the company had to complete a restatement of results for 2002 and the first quarter of 2003. The restatements, disclosed last month, were prompted by changes in how FirstEnergy accounts for costs related to Ohio’s move toward a competitive energy market.

“Certainly it’s not something we’re happy about doing,” the spokeswoman said. “Obviously even just one typographical or minor computational error isn’t what we like to see.

“But given the compressed amount of time that we had, there was just a tremendous amount of data that needed to be reviewed. Certainly there were some things that slipped through the cracks that shouldn’t have.”