Power plant company FirstEnergy Solutions Corp.and its subsidiaries, along with the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., filed for bankruptcy protection late Saturday night.
The filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio indicates that the top unsecured creditor is the Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. which is owed more than $1 billion. The company also owes the BNSF Railway Co. $72 million.
The company and its creditors, estimated at several hundreds in the filing, have been negotiating a settlement, the company said. Other documents including a summary of the company’s assets and liabilities are due April 16.
FirstEnergy Solutions and its subsidiaries have over $550 million in cash, enough money to pay employees and suppliers and continue operations, the company said in a statement.
The FirstEnergy Corp., parent of FirstEnergy Solutions and the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., is not part of the filing.
In a separate statement, Charles Jones, CEO of FirstEnergy, said the company will focus on its regulated local and long distance transmission companies, which has been the goal of the company for at least 18 months. FirstEnergy is planning on investing up to $10 billion upgrading its delivery systems over the next three years.
The Easter Weekend Chapter 11 filing was made over the internet and is an effort to restructure at least $2.8 billion of debt FirstEnergy Solutions faces.
It follows years of efforts by the parent company to persuade Ohio regulators and lawmakers to approve multiple plans to wring more money out of customers to subsidize the power plant operations.
The bankruptcy filing caps a five-day media blitz that began with the announcement Wednesday evening that FirstEnergy Solutions had informed grid manager PJM Interconnection that it would close its three nuclear power plants within three years.
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