More FirstEnergy Sucking

FirstEnergy's been doing a whole lotta sucking lately while I was otherwise engaged in super-sucky-secret FirstEnergy sucking shenanigans that I can't talk about.  But, the work week is over and now it's time for some FirstEnergy sucking fun.

Even Wall Street thinks FirstEnergy sucks.  Today, Citigroup reaffirmed its sell recommendation on FirstEnergy's sucky stock... because it sucks!

FirstEnergy Corp.‘s stock had its “sell” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Citigroup Inc. in a report issued on Thursday...

We're about due for another fun-packed FirstEnergy earnings call, where Tony the Trickster and his sucky band of merry thieves parade their suck-i-tude before the investment community.  Don't miss it!

In other sucky news, FirstEnergy is still trying to bust its union workers, including desperately needed meter readers in West Virginia's eastern panhandle.

Local 102 represents about 690 of FirstEnergy’s linemen, substation workers, meter readers and technicians in the big electric utility’s Potomac Edison and West Penn Power territories.
About 125 of Local 102’s members work at Potomac Edison service centers in Williamsport; Frederick, Mount Airy and Thurmont, Md.; Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs, W.Va.; and Waynesboro and McConnellsburg, Pa.
Potomac Edison serves about 250,000 Maryland customers in an area stretching from Garrett County east to parts of Montgomery and Carroll counties, and about 132,000 customers in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.
West Penn Power, whose territory includes Pennsylvania’s Franklin and Fulton counties, serves about 720,000 customers.
In March 2013, FirstEnergy began negotiations with Local 102 for a labor contract to replace the three-year pact that was to expire April 30, 2013.
What happened next is in dispute.
The company said the contract expired and the union members have continued working under the terms of the previous contract. The union, on the other hand, said the contract was extended for one year until May 1, 2014 — 10 days from today.

Asked last week whether that means a deadline is looming, FirstEnergy spokesman Toad Meyers said, “We’re not facing a deadline from the company’s standpoint. The plans are to continue to negotiate.”
Meyers, who is the utility’s spokesman for comment on negotiations with Local 102, didn’t mention the talks in Detroit.
He said “at least seven more negotiations” are scheduled with Local 102 leaders before April ends. He said he has “no idea” where those talks are taking place.
Asked Thursday what happens if an agreement isn’t reached by May 1, Whalen said there’s a “variety of things that could happen.
“First of all, we continue to work day by day,” Whalen said. “Or, the union could agree to sign an extension to work under the (last contract’s) terms for ‘x’ number of days.
“Or, depending on what (FirstEnergy is) thinking, they certainly have the ability to lock us out when they want,” the legality of which would “depend on where it’s at in the negotiations,” Whalen said.
“And then, the last thing, if we don’t have an extension, we have the right to strike,” Whalen said.
If a strike or a lockout were to come, Whalen said neither could happen until at least May 1, when the “no-strike, no-lockout provision” expires with what the union said is still the contract.

When is FirstEnergy going to stop treating its employees like trash?  And how much longer will the company's stockholders quietly suffer company mismanagement all the way to suckville?  I found the 5-year old Tony insults here to be quite creative, such as this one:

Tell Uncle Tony to take a cut in pay, put a pair of di electric boots up his a$$ filled with concrete and take a plunge in the Delaware. Italian my a$$ he is a embarrassment to the nationality and the human race. Some would call him "Yellow" not Uncle Tony or possibly numb-nuts. Yell "Mafia" and I bet he pees his pants.

These are FirstEnergy's faithful employees, the folks who actually keep your lights on.  Just how badly does FirstEnergy suck, anyhow?  The customers hate them, the employees hate them, the investment community hates them.  Something's wrong here...

And in other FirstEnergy sucking news.... check out the exchange going on in the Potomac Edison/Mon Power General Investigation case at the WV PSC, where FirstEnergy turned customer service into performance art.

The Coalition for Reliable Power filed this letter after noticing a new uptick in complaints about high bills and missed meter readings.  In response, FirstEnergy's lawyer called me (because, yes, I do wear another hat that comes with business cards) to request the names of all the customers who had complained so he could "help" them.  Like I'm going to give out a list of names, email addresses and phone numbers of people that have contacted the Coalition when they couldn't get any help from the company?  People just aren't comfortable with that, and neither am I.  Instead, I relayed FirstEnergy's customer service offer to everyone and let them volunteer.

I received my first response 12 minutes after sending out the notice.  It said:

Mon Power is an a$$-hole company. The WV PSC allows them to screw over consumers of electric.

Oh, this experiment isn't going to go well, is it?

It seemed to go swimmingly in FirstEnergy's fantasy world, however.

Here's the response of volunteer customer service experiment subject Kery Fries.  Doesn't sound like he agrees with Gary Jack's version, does it?

Finally, here's the Coalition for Reliable Power's response to Jack's letter.

When is this company's grand sucking failure going to finally be over?