FirstEnergy Solutions and NOPEC Enter into Nine-Year Agreement

Northeast Ohio residents and businesses to save an estimated $170 million on electric generation costs

Akron, Ohio - FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (FES), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), and the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) have entered into an agreement making FES the generation supplier for customers in the 126 Northeast Ohio communities served by NOPEC. The agreement extends from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2019. In addition, FES and Gexa Energy - NOPEC's current generation supplier - have signed a letter of intent that is expected to make FES the supplier for NOPEC communities in 2010.

Through its innovative Powering Our Communities program, FES will make a onetime grant of $12 million, which will be administered by NOPEC for energy-related programs throughout its communities. The program will also provide residents and small businesses of those communities with guaranteed long-term electric generation savings that are expected to total an estimated $19 million a year, based on current generation prices. In addition to these savings, NOPEC will use funds it has available to offer its communities additional discounts.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to supply electric generation to the approximately 500,000 electric customers in NOPEC's communities," said FirstEnergy President and Chief Executive Officer Anthony J. Alexander. "Our Powering Our Communities program has been instrumental in bringing customers guaranteed, long-term savings on their electric bills - as well as much-needed funding for the communities where they live. This agreement will benefit Northeast Ohio for many years to come."

NOPEC's board chairman Joe Migliorini said, "We've once again been able to leverage our group buying power to obtain the most advantageous deal for our customers and member communities. As a result of our partnership with FirstEnergy Solutions, our electric consumers will save money every month on their electric bills. In addition, our communities will have access to a substantial pool of grant money designated for energy conservation; renewable energy and energy education projects; economic development grants for advanced energy projects that will create jobs in our communities; and general fund purposes for communities in dire need."

The community grant available through Powering Our Communities will be paid to NOPEC on or before January 31, 2010, and funds will be disbursed to the NOPEC communities through a grant application program administered through an independent committee. The level of funding is based on the number of customers in each community who participate in the program.

The Powering Our Communities program also locks in long-term discounted generation prices to residential and small commercial customers in these communities. The discounts will be based on the Price to Compare (PTC), or the generation price customers would have been charged if they purchased electric generation service from their local electric utility. Beginning January 2011, eligible residential customers will receive 6 percent off the PTC and small businesses will get a 4 percent discount off the PTC through the end of 2019. In addition, residential customers who receive special generation credits from the electric utility for having electric space heating, water heating and/or load management equipment will receive a 4 percent discount off the PTC from January 1, 2010, through May 31, 2012. The discount for these customers increases to 6 percent off the PTC from June 1, 2012, to the end of 2019.

FES provides competitive electric generation supply and other energy-related products and services, and is a licensed supplier in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan and Illinois. To learn more about FirstEnergy Solutions' governmental aggregation programs and specifically Powering Our Communities, community officials can visit www.fes.com.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services. Its generation subsidiaries control more than 14,000 megawatts of capacity.

NOPEC is a non-profit energy aggregator representing residents and small business customers in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Summit and Trumbull counties. NOPEC is the largest such public energy aggregation in the United States.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements based on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. These statements include declarations regarding management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "believe," "estimate" and similar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry and legislative and regulatory changes affecting how generation rates will be determined following the expiration of existing rate plans in Pennsylvania, the impact of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's regulatory process on the Ohio Companies associated with the distribution rate case, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy and commodity market prices and availability, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the ability to successfully amend various purchase power contracts, the continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulated utilities to collect transition and other charges or to recover increased transmission costs, operating and maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, other legislative and regulatory changes, revised environmental requirements, including possible greenhouse gas emission regulations, the potential impacts of the U.S. Court of Appeals' July 11, 2008 decision requiring revisions to the Clean Air Interstate Rules and the scope of any laws, rules or regulations that may ultimately take their place, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures needed to, among other things, implement the Air Quality Compliance Plan (including that such amounts could be higher than anticipated or that certain generating units may need to be shut down) or levels of emission reductions related to the Consent Decree resolving the New Source Review litigation or other similar potential regulatory initiatives or actions, adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes (including, but not limited to, the revocation of necessary licenses or operating permits and oversight) by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Metropolitan Edison Company's and Pennsylvania Electric Company's transmission service charge filings with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the continuing availability of generating units and their ability to operate at or near full capacity, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards, the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals (including employee workforce initiatives), the ability to improve electric commodity margins and to experience growth in the distribution business, the changing market conditions that could affect the value of assets held in FirstEnergy's nuclear decommissioning trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause it to make additional contributions sooner, or in an amount that is larger than currently anticipated, the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with FirstEnergy's financing plan and the cost of such capital, changes in general economic conditions affecting the company, the state of the capital and credit markets affecting the company, interest rates and any actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect FirstEnergy's access to financing or its costs or increase its requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and other financial guarantees, the continuing decline of the national and regional economy and its impact on the company's major industrial and commercial customers, issues concerning the soundness of financial institutions and counterparties with which FirstEnergy does business, and the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar factors. The foregoing review of factors should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy expressly disclaims any current intention to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. (120209)