Allegheny Power 2010 Annual Report Download - page 28

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• we could be subject to higher costs and/or penalties related to mandatory reliability standards set by
NERC/FERC or changes in the rules of organized markets and the states in which we do business;
• we rely on transmission and distribution assets that we do not own or control to deliver our wholesale electricity.
If transmission is disrupted, including our own transmission, or not operated efficiently, or if capacity is
inadequate, our ability to sell and deliver power may be hindered;
• disruptions in our fuel supplies could occur, which could adversely affect our ability to operate our generation
facilities and impact financial results;
• temperature variations as well as weather conditions or other natural disasters could have a negative impact on
our results of operations and demand significantly below or above our forecasts could adversely affect our
energy margins;
• we are subject to financial performance risks related to regional and general economic cycles and also related
to heavy manufacturing industries such as automotive and steel;
• increases in customer electric rates and economic uncertainty may lead to a greater amount of uncollectible
customer accounts;
• the goodwill of one or more of our operating subsidiaries may become impaired, which would result in write-offs
of the impaired amounts;
• we face certain human resource risks associated with the availability of trained and qualified labor to meet our
future staffing requirements;
• significant increases in our operation and maintenance expenses, including our health care and pension costs,
could adversely affect our future earnings and liquidity;
• our business is subject to the risk that sensitive customer data may be compromised, which could result in an
adverse impact to our reputation and/or results of operations;
• acts of war or terrorism could negatively impact our business;
• capital improvements and construction projects may not be completed within forecasted budget, schedule or
scope parameters;
• changes in technology may significantly affect our generation business by making our generating facilities less
competitive;
• we may acquire assets that could present unanticipated issues for our business in the future, which could
adversely affect our ability to realize anticipated benefits of those acquisitions;
• ability of certain FirstEnergy companies to meet their obligations to other FirstEnergy companies;
• our pending merger with Allegheny may not achieve its intended results;
• upon consummation of the pending merger we will be subject to business uncertainties that could adversely
affect our financial results;
• once the pending merger is closed the combined company will have a higher percentage of coal-fired
generation capacity compared to FirstEnergy’s previous generation mix. As a result, FirstEnergy may be
exposed to greater risk from regulations of coal and coal combustion by-products than it faced prior to the
merger;
• complex and changing government regulations could have a negative impact on our results of operations;
• regulatory changes in the electric industry, including a reversal, discontinuance or delay of the present trend
toward competitive markets, could affect our competitive position and result in unrecoverable costs adversely
affecting our business and results of operations;
• the prospect of rising rates could prompt legislative or regulatory action to restrict or control such rate increases;
this in turn could create uncertainty affecting planning, costs and results of operations and may adversely affect
the utilities’ ability to recover their costs, maintain adequate liquidity and address capital requirements;