CLEVELAND -- FirstEnergy's power plant subsidiary announced this morning that it has certified to federal regulators the definite shut down of its three nuclear power plants.

In a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., or FENOC, certified that the companies will begin the shutdowns as early as May 31, 2020.

FirstEnergy Solutions, its subsidiaries and FENOC, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors on Mar. 31, the weekend before FES faced an April 2 deadline to make a $100 million debt payment.

Donald Moul, president of FES and chief nuclear officer, wrote in today's letter that because of "severe economic challenges" the company "has decided to permanently cease power operations:"

At the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo by May 31, 2020;

At the Perry plant in Lake County and unit one of the Beaver Valley plant near Pittsburgh by May 31, 2021;

At Beaver Valley unit two reactor by Oct. 31, 2021.

The shutdowns would affect about 2,300 employees.

FirstEnergy Solutions initially announced its intentions to close the plants on Mar. 28.

The company also on Mar. 28 phoned the NRC with its decision that it was planning the shutdowns. The agency requires a letter certifying such a decision within 30 days of an announcement.

The certification letter is the signal for the NRC and the company to begin a lengthy series of inspections designed to reveal problems the company may encounter following the shutdown.

A plant owner can rescind a certification letter if its conditions change, or if it were to sell the plants.

Also on Mar. 28, the company informed PJM Interconnection, the grid manager in Ohio and 12 other states, that it intended to close the three plants, which generate a combined 4,048 megawatts.

PJM has already begun the evaluation of the impact the closings would have on the grid and could ask the company to postpone the shutdowns until additional power lines are built to move electricity into the northern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania.

If the plants were asked to stay open temporarily, PJM would pay the company the additional money it needs to operate.

The company has tried to find a way to funnel additional cash to the power plants at least since 2014 because the plants can no longer compete effectively in wholesale power markets where prices are set by new gas turbine plants and at times by wind farms.

FirstEnergy and now FirstEnergy Solutions have appealed to Ohio regulators, then lawmakers and federal regulators to develop special rates to subsidize the nuclear as well as old coal plants.

The U.S. Department of Energy is currently considering an appeal from FES to invoke emergency provisions in the Federal Power Act and order federal regulators and PJM to develop subsidies for the old plants.

Opponents argue such a move would destroy competitive wholesale markets which are designed to favor the lowest cost power that can reasonably be expected to meet demand.

Parent company FirstEnergy this week announced an informal agreement had been reached between key creditors and FES and that FirstEnergy itself would face no future claims.

That agreement must still be formalized and approved by the bankruptcy court. A second hearing in the case has been set for Thursday.

The certification closing announcement, made before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, did not appear to affect the share price of parent company FirstEnergy. The stock closed on the New York Stock Exchange at $34.16, down 13 cents from Tuesday's closing price. About 5.6 million shares traded.

Nearly 8.5 million FirstEnergy shares traded on Tuesday, well above the average over the last several weeks of about 5.5 million shares, signaling new investor interest in the company. FirstEnergy's share price has been as high as $35.56 and as low as $27.93 over the last year.

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for a copy of the FES/FENOC letter to the NRC.