Having admitted to participating in the largest energy-involved bribery scandal in Ohio history, provider FirstEnergy Corp., based in Akron, has agreed to pay a $3.9-million fine for withholding lobbying and accounting information from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s enforcement office.
The fine and an admission by the company that it violated FERC's Duty of Candor rule were part of a settlement approved on Dec. 30. In late July 2020, FirstEnergy admitted it was involved in allegations of a racketeering conspiracy related to Ohio House Bill 6, which was signed into law on July 23, 2019 and provided a $1-billion subsidy to keep FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear power plants in Ohio from closing. FirstEnergy was the main contributor that funneled money through a political action committee known as Generation Now that was connected to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder. Householder and four others were indicted by the U.S. Attorney for southern Ohio over illegal contributions from Generation Now.