Organization and Basis of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Unless otherwise indicated, defined terms and abbreviations used herein have the meanings set forth in the accompanying Glossary of Terms.

FE was incorporated under Ohio law in 1996. FE’s principal business is the holding, directly or indirectly, of all of the outstanding equity of its principal subsidiaries: OE, CEI, TE, Penn (a wholly owned subsidiary of OE), JCP&L, ME, PN, FESC, MP, AGC (a wholly owned subsidiary of MP), PE, WP, and FET and its principal subsidiaries (ATSI, MAIT and TrAIL). In addition, FE holds all of the outstanding equity of other direct subsidiaries including: AE Supply, FirstEnergy Properties, Inc., FEV, FirstEnergy License Holding Company, GPUN, Allegheny Ventures, Inc., and Suvon, LLC, doing business as both FirstEnergy Home and FirstEnergy Advisors.

FE and its subsidiaries are principally involved in the transmission, distribution and generation of electricity. FirstEnergy’s ten utility operating companies comprise one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, based on serving over six million customers in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. FirstEnergy’s transmission operations include approximately 24,000 miles of lines and two regional transmission operation centers. AGC and MP control 3,580 MWs of total capacity.

PN, as lessee of the property of its subsidiary, the Waverly Electric Light & Power Company, serves approximately 4,000 customers in the Waverly, New York vicinity. On February 10, 2021, PN entered into an agreement to transfer its customers and the related assets in Waverly, New York to Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative; the completion of such transfer is subject to several closing conditions including regulatory approval, which are ongoing.

These interim financial statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC for Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Certain information and disclosures normally included in financial statements and notes prepared in accordance with GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. These interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

FE and its subsidiaries follow GAAP and comply with the related regulations, orders, policies and practices prescribed by the SEC, FERC, and, as applicable, the PUCO, the PPUC, the MDPSC, the NYPSC, the WVPSC, the VSCC and the NJBPU. The accompanying interim financial statements are unaudited, but reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, that, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair statement of the financial statements. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make periodic estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results could differ from these estimates. The reported results of operations are not necessarily indicative of results of operations for any future period. FE and its subsidiaries have evaluated events and transactions for potential recognition or disclosure through the date the financial statements were issued.

FE and its subsidiaries consolidate all majority-owned subsidiaries over which they exercise control and, when applicable, entities for which they have a controlling financial interest. Intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation as appropriate and permitted pursuant to GAAP. FE and its subsidiaries consolidate a VIE when it is determined that it is the primary beneficiary. Investments in affiliates over which FE and its subsidiaries have the ability to exercise significant influence, but do not have a controlling financial interest, follow the equity method of accounting. Under the equity method, the interest in the entity is reported as an investment in the Consolidated Balance Sheets and the percentage of FE’s ownership share of the entity’s earnings is reported in the Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income.

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.

Capitalized Financing Costs

For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, capitalized financing costs on FirstEnergy’s Consolidated Statements of Income include $13 million and $7 million, respectively, of allowance for equity funds used during construction and $6 million of capitalized interest in both periods.

COVID-19

FirstEnergy is continuously evaluating the COVID-19 global pandemic and taking steps to mitigate known risks. FirstEnergy provides a critical and essential service to its customers and the health and safety of its employees and customers is its first priority. FirstEnergy continues to provide flexibility for approximately 7,000 of its 12,400 employees to work from home. Pandemic safety and cleaning protocols were implemented for those workers who have continued to report to a FirstEnergy work location during the pandemic, ensuring FirstEnergy employees can report directly to job sites and work with the same small group of employees every day. FirstEnergy continues to assess its work from home policies to allow for a flexible workplace to continue for its employees after the pandemic.

FirstEnergy continues to effectively manage operations during the pandemic in order to provide critical service to customers. FirstEnergy has experienced supply chain challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lead times have increased across numerous material categories, with some as much as doubling from previous times. Some key suppliers have struggled with labor shortages and raw material availability, which along with increasing inflationary pressure, have increased the costs of certain materials, equipment and contractors. FirstEnergy has taken steps to mitigate these risks and does not currently expect service disruptions or any material impact on its capital spending plan. However, the situation remains fluid and future impacts to FirstEnergy that are presently unknown or unanticipated may occur.

Customer Receivables

Receivables from customers include distribution services and retail generation sales to residential, commercial and industrial customers of the Utilities. The allowance for uncollectible customer receivables is based on historical loss information comprised of a rolling 36-month average net write-off percentage of revenues, in conjunction with a qualitative assessment of elements that impact the collectability of receivables to determine if allowances for uncollectible accounts should be further adjusted in accordance with the accounting guidance for credit losses.

FirstEnergy reviews its allowance for uncollectible customer receivables utilizing a quantitative and qualitative assessment. Management contemplates available current information such as changes in economic factors, regulatory matters, industry trends, customer credit factors, amount of receivable balances that are past-due, payment options and programs available to customers, and the methods that the Utilities are able to utilize to ensure payment. This analysis includes consideration of the outbreak of COVID-19 and the impact on customer receivable balances outstanding and write-offs since the pandemic began. During the first quarter of 2022, various regulatory actions including extensions on moratoriums, certain restrictions on disconnections, and extended installment plan offerings continue to impact the level of past due balances in certain states. However, certain states have resumed normal collections activity and arrears levels have declined towards pre-pandemic levels. As a result of this analysis, FirstEnergy recognized a $25 million decrease to its allowance for uncollectible customer receivables during the first quarter of 2022, of which $15 million was applied to existing deferred regulatory assets. Additionally, as a result of these pandemic-related moratoriums and certain customer installment or extended payment plans offered, the allowance for uncollectible accounts on receivables in 2022 continue to be elevated due to the extension of when certain write-offs would have otherwise occurred.

Receivables from customers also include PJM receivables resulting from transmission and wholesale sales. FirstEnergy’s uncollectible risk on PJM receivables is minimal due to the nature of PJM’s settlement process whereby members of PJM legally agree to share the cost of defaults and as a result there is no allowance for doubtful accounts.

Activity in the allowance for uncollectible accounts on customer receivables for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and for the year ended December 31, 2021 are as follows:


	(In millions)

Balance, January 1, 2021	$	164
Charged to income (1)	54
Charged to other accounts (2)	42
Write-offs	(101)
Balance, December 31, 2021	$	159
Charged to income(3)	(5)
Charged to other accounts (2)	39
Write-offs	(61)
Balance, March 31, 2022	$	132

(1) $12 million of which was deferred for future recovery in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

(2) Represents recoveries and reinstatements of accounts written off for uncollectible accounts.

(3) $(11) million of which was deferred for future refund to customers in the three months ended March 31, 2022.

Sale of Minority Interest in FirstEnergy Transmission, LLC

On November 6, 2021, FirstEnergy, along with FET, entered into the FET P&SA, with Brookfield and Brookfield Guarantors, pursuant to which FET agreed to issue and sell to Brookfield at the closing, and Brookfield agreed to purchase from FET, certain newly issued membership interests of FET, such that Brookfield will own 19.9% of the issued and outstanding membership interests of FET, for a purchase price of $2.375 billion. KATCo, which is currently a subsidiary of FET, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of FE prior to the closing of the transaction and will remain in the Regulated Transmission segment. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval from the FERC and review by the CFIUS. On January 5, 2022, the parties to this transaction submitted an application to FERC requesting approval of the transaction no later than April 30, 2022. On April 14, 2022, CFIUS notified FET and Brookfield that it has determined that there were no unresolved national security issues and its review of the transaction was concluded. On April 21, 2022, FERC approved the matter. The transaction is now expected to close at the end of May 2022.

Pursuant to the terms of the FET P&SA, in connection with the closing, Brookfield, FET and FirstEnergy Corp will enter into the FET LLC Agreement. The FET LLC Agreement, among other things, provides for the governance, exit, capital and distribution, and other arrangements for FET from and following the closing. Under the FET LLC Agreement, Brookfield will be entitled to appoint a number of directors to the FET Board, in approximate proportion to Brookfield’s ownership percentage in FET (rounded to the next whole number). Upon the closing, the FET Board will consist of five directors, one appointed by Brookfield and four appointed by FE. The FET LLC Agreement contains certain investor protections, including, among other things, requiring Brookfield's approval for FET and its subsidiaries to take certain major actions. Under the terms of the FET LLC Agreement, for so long as Brookfield holds a 9.9% interest in FET, Brookfield’s consent is required for FET or any of its subsidiaries to incur indebtedness (other than the refinancing of existing indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms reflecting then-current credit market conditions) that would reasonably be expected to result in FET’s consolidated Debt-to-Capital Ratio (as defined in the FET LLC Agreement) equaling or exceeding (i) prior to the fifth anniversary of the effective date, 65%, and (ii) thereafter, 70%.

New Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Issued Pronouncements - FirstEnergy has assessed new authoritative accounting guidance issued by the FASB that has not yet been adopted and none are currently expected to have a material impact to the financial statements.