FAIRMONT, W.Va., May 20, 2015 -- Mon Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), is using helicopters equipped with aerial saws to trim trees and maintain clearances along hard-to-access transmission and distribution corridors throughout its service area. This cost-effective technology helps crews perform the vegetation-management work necessary to help lessen the frequency and duration of power outages associated with severe weather.

The aerial saw is typically deployed along transmission and distribution lines in rural areas. The helicopter saw works quickly in areas that may be environmentally sensitive or inaccessible to bucket trucks and other vehicles. In addition, the aerial saw also eliminates the risk of injury to workers using bucket trucks or climbing trees to cut limbs near energized lines.

"While the aerial saw doesn't replace conventional tree trimming methods, it is an efficient, cost-effective tool to help us control vegetation in rugged terrain or backcountry areas that have limited access," said Holly Kauffman, president of FirstEnergy's West Virginia Operations. "The helicopter aerial saw can cover more area in a day than a ground crew might complete in a week."

Mon Power expects to spend about $72 million in 2015 to trim trees and control vegetation along more than 4,500 miles of power lines to help enhance service reliability for customers. As part of this process, helicopter aerial saws are scheduled to be used to trim trees along about 700 miles of transmission lines through the end of the year. In addition, the aerial saw will be used to trim distribution circuits as well.

Mon Power has contracted with Rotor Blade and Aerial Solutions, which own and operate the helicopters and saws, to perform the work.

The highly trained helicopter pilots can hover and maneuver the saw's multiple, 24-inch rotary blades to cut cleanly and rapidly through tree limbs up to 10 inches in diameter. Suspended from a vertical boom beneath the helicopter, the saw can trim both sides of a 10-to-12-mile right-of-way in about a week. Ground crews work in tandem with the pilot, flagging traffic and removing limbs and smaller branches from roadways, trails, waterways, or other sensitive areas.

Mon Power typically uses personal contacts, door hangers, newspaper advertisements and other methods to alert property owners and local officials that the aerial saw will be trimming in their area. For more information about the aerial saw program, customers can contact Mon Power at 1-800-686-0022.

Mon Power serves about 385,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties. Follow Mon Power on Twitter @MonPowerWV.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland, and New York. Visit FirstEnergy on the web at www.firstenergycorp.com, and follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.

Editor's Note: Photos of the aerial saw are available for download on Flickr.

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costs being higher than anticipated and the success of our policies to control costs and to mitigate low energy, capacity and market prices; other legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements, including, but not limited to, proposed greenhouse gases emission and water discharge regulations and the effects of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's coal combustion residuals regulations, Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, including our estimated costs of compliance, and Clean Water Act 316(b) water intake regulation; the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any litigation, including New Source Review litigation, or potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such initiatives or rulemakings could result in our decision to deactivate or idle certain generating units); the uncertainties associated with the deactivation of certain older regulated and competitive fossil units, including the impact on vendor commitments, and the timing thereof as they relate to the reliability of the transmission grid; the impact of other future changes to the operational status or availability of our generating units; adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes with respect to our nuclear operations (including, but not limited to the revocation or non-renewal of necessary licenses, approvals or operating permits by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or as a result of the incident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant); issues arising from the indications of cracking in the shield building at Davis-Besse; the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and like proceedings, including, but not limited to, any such proceedings related to vendor commitments; the impact of labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or not fully hedged; the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes in customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, changes resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and financial goals, including, but not limited to, the ability to continue to reduce costs and to successfully execute our financial plans designed to improve our credit metrics and strengthen our balance sheet through, among other actions, our previously-implemented dividend reduction, our cash flow initiative project and our other proposed capital raising initiatives; our ability to improve electric commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of fuel and fuel transportation on such margins; changing market conditions that could affect the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of assets held in our Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause us and/or our subsidiaries to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated; the impact of changes to material accounting policies; the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with our announced financial plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting us and our subsidiaries; actions that may be taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect us and/or our subsidiaries' access to financing, increase the costs thereof, and increase requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and other financial guarantees; changes in national and regional economic conditions affecting us, our subsidiaries and/or our major industrial and commercial customers, and other counterparties with which we do business, including fuel suppliers; the impact of any changes in tax laws or regulations or adverse tax audit results or rulings; issues concerning the stability of domestic and foreign financial institutions and counterparties with which we do business; the risks associated with cyber-attacks on our electronic data centers that could compromise the information stored on our networks, including proprietary information and customer data; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our United States 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, except as required by law, any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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