COLUMBUS, Ohio - State regulators will review a proposal for relaxing electric service reliability rules for FirstEnergy companies during a public hearing next month. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio scheduled the meeting for Feb. 26 at its offices in Columbus.

Utility representatives asked the commission to approve new performance standards for Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating and Toledo Edison. The companies stated that severe weather and trees outside their rights-of-way have made it difficult to meet current reliability goals. FirstEnergy proposed a method that uses historical data from 2019 through 2023 to set future benchmarks.

Consumer groups oppose the changes because customers are already funding grid updates designed to handle weather issues. The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel argued the proposal lowers standards despite these investments.

For instance, FirstEnergy completed a $19 million transmission line upgrade in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties in late 2025. That project replaced aging infrastructure with steel structures designed to withstand severe weather.

Additionally, the company finished a $5 million project in Mahoning and Columbiana counties in March 2024. Crews installed about 250 new insulators on a 22-mile line between Boardman Township and Salem to prevent outages for 1,500 customers. Both projects were part of a multibillion-dollar investment program to modernize the grid.

Attorneys for the consumer agency wrote that the proposed rule changes could still lead to longer and more frequent interruptions for customers despite these improvements.

The hearing follows service disruptions that affected residents in Lakewood and Barberton during the summer of 2025. City leaders from those communities intervened in the case to express concerns about the outages.