Lakewood, Barberton seek to intervene in state case on FirstEnergy reliability standards

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — The cities of Lakewood and Barberton are asking to join state discussions about reliability standards for FirstEnergy Corp., arguing that the utility company should not be allowed to lower its obligations to provide dependable power to Ohio residents.

After months of repeated outages, both cities say the case before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) could let FirstEnergy off the hook for providing reliable service.

Earlier this summer, Lakewood Mayor Meghan George sent a letter to PUCO requesting that the agency open a case into FirstEnergy, citing repeated infrastructure failures. PUCO later cited the company for equipment failures at multiple substations, including one that serves Lakewood.

That investigation remains open, but this week, George an