Fitch Rates Ohio Edison's Anticipated $600MM Sr. Unsec. Notes 'BBB'; Outlook Positive

Business Wire, June 22, 2006

NEW YORK -- Fitch rates Ohio Edison Company's (OE) expected $600 million senior unsecured note issuance 'BBB'. The issuance is composed of a $250 million 10-year tranche and a $350 million 30-year tranche. The Rating Outlook is Positive. Proceeds from the offering are expected to be used to repay short-term debt, redeem preferred securities, repurchase common equity from its parent, and for general corporate purposes.

OE's ratings reflect the company's solid underlying credit metrics, relatively stable operating cash flows and balanced regulatory environments in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The ratings and positive rating outlook also consider the January 2006 approval of OE's Rate Certainty Plan by regulators in Ohio and the lower operating risk. The risk reduction results from the recently completed transfer of the company's owned generating plants to unregulated generating subsidiaries of OE's corporate parent, FirstEnergy Corp (FE) (Unsecured debt rated 'BBB-' by Fitch; Outlook Positive), and an inter-company power supply contract that effectively transfers supply risk to FirstEnergy Solutions.

Importantly, the Positive Rating Outlook assumes that OE's credit metrics will remain strong for the current rating category following the completion of management's plan to reallocate $1 billion of parent company debt (scheduled to mature in November 2006) within the FE group and the completion of the FE share repurchase agreement. The positive outlook also considers the close rating relationship between OE and its corporate parent, FE, and the parent's improving operating fundamentals and reduced debt levels.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, 'www.fitchratings.com'. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.