FIRSTENERGY CORP.

FIRSTENERGY CORP.
Company upgradesto enhance reliability
AKRON -- FirstEnergy Corp. faced many challenges in 2003 but remains committed to improving operational performance and further enhancing its value to customers and shareholders.
The holding corporation is the nation's fifth-largest investor-owned electric system, serving 4.4 million customers within a 36,100-square-mile area from the Indiana border to the New Jersey shore, including more than 270,000 Ohio Edison customers in the greater Youngstown area.
Ohio Edison made a variety of system reliability enhancements in the city last year, including a $50,000 project to install a new transformer and upgrade the distribution system serving the city hall/police station and $25,000 for special underground switching devices along Boardman Street and Vindicator Square.
It also continued its partnership with Youngstown State University to offer a two-year associate degree in electric utility technology and introduced a power-plant technology degree.